Airport month record

SJCOCT

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in October 2025

Departures: 3,865
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 7

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at SJC, see live FAA status.

SJC in October lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by roughly 50 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,865 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 723 at 89.0% on time.

On time

81.5%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,836 completed departures

Avg delay

52 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.41%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

82.9%

SJC across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,865 departures from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in October 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

October next to SJC's other months

Against SJC's own year, October ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SJC in October, at 0.41% against 0.69% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.5% on time and November 83.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.

SJC month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	4,120	80.8%	60 min	0.87%	B+
August 2025	3,885	83.5%	54 min	0.36%	B+
September 2025	3,777	85.5%	51 min	0.50%	A+
October 2025 (this page)	3,865	81.5%	52 min	0.41%	B+
November 2025	3,659	83.0%	57 min	1.12%	B
December 2025	3,622	81.2%	58 min	0.86%	B+
January 2026	3,099	89.3%	61 min	1.19%	A
February 2026	3,088	87.0%	51 min	0.58%	A+
March 2026	3,438	85.6%	59 min	0.96%	A+
April 2026	3,423	84.2%	45 min	0.50%	B+
May 2026	3,686	81.7%	48 min	0.38%	B+
June 2026	3,816	74.3%	50 min	0.58%	C+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SJC in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am770 flights92.9%
8am–11am790 flights89.6%
11am–2pm754 flights84.1%
2pm–5pm635 flights69.7%
5pm–8pm643 flights72.2%
8pm–5am273 flights69.1%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.9% of the time, against 69.1% for the overnight window. That is 24 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 790 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 91.9% on time and Sunday the weakest at 72.5%. 19 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SJC in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 89.0% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 76.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,314 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SJC in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,314	76.2%	47 min	0.35%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	723	89.0%	57 min	0.28%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	204	93.1%	79 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	194	86.8%	72 min	2.58%	A
United Airlinesthin sample	173	92.4%	44 min	0.58%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	161	88.7%	66 min	0.00%	A+
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	60	85.0%	145 min	0.00%	A+

The spread between SkyWest and Southwest is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SJC in October

Routes from SJC in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SJC to SAN · San Diego	434	66.6%	41 min	1.38%	C
SJC to LAX · Los Angeles	422	85.0%	54 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to SEA · Seattle	392	85.0%	54 min	1.28%	A
SJC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	316	77.5%	56 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	253	76.2%	63 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to DEN · Denverthin sample	246	87.3%	41 min	0.41%	A+
SJC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	228	87.1%	57 min	0.88%	A+
SJC to BUR · Burbankthin sample	211	81.6%	55 min	0.95%	B+
SJC to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	168	92.3%	43 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to PDX · Portlandthin sample	162	80.9%	39 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to ONT · Ontariothin sample	110	71.8%	53 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	96	76.0%	43 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to AUS · Austinthin sample	94	67.0%	43 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	92	93.4%	45 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to ATL · Atlantathin sample	85	96.5%	100 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	60	86.7%	46 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	57	87.7%	79 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to DAL · Dallasthin sample	56	73.2%	90 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to BOI · Boisethin sample	54	85.2%	60 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	39	92.3%	333 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to MDW · Chicagothin sample	32	93.8%	31 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	31	90.0%	32 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	31	93.5%	48 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to ORD · Chicagothin sample	31	93.5%	31 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to HOU · Houstonthin sample	30	76.7%	31 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held SJC up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 37,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
50%
Carrier
30%
National Airspace System
17%
Extreme weather
3%

50% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 37,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 14 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 36,503 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.41%, below the national 0.53% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.5% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from SJC in October

For a October trip through SJC: expect 81.5% on time and 0.41% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International (SJC), the whole year
SJC in July80.8%
SJC in August83.5%
SJC in September85.5%
SJC in November83.0%
SJC in December81.2%
SJC in January89.3%
SJC in February87.0%
SJC in March85.6%
SJC in April84.2%
SJC in May81.7%
SJC in June74.3%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures