Airport month record

SJCSEP

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in September 2025

Departures: 3,777
Month: September 2025
National, same month: 83.4%
Carriers: 8

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

SJC in September earns an A+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 2 points better than the national rate of 83.4%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about 50 minutes. That rests on 3,777 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 646 at 90.4% on time.

On time

85.5%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,748 completed departures

Avg delay

51 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.50%

Nationally in September: 0.51%

Whole year

82.9%

SJC across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,777 departures from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in September 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

September next to SJC's other months

Against SJC's own year, September ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, August ran 83.5% on time and October 81.5%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse 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 (this page)	3,777	85.5%	51 min	0.50%	A+
October 2025	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 September

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 21 points, against 7 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am737 flights94.8%
8am–11am784 flights92.8%
11am–2pm786 flights85.9%
2pm–5pm652 flights73.8%
5pm–8pm577 flights78.2%
8pm–5am241 flights81.2%

Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.8% of the time, against 73.8% for the afternoon window. That is 21 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 786 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 94.7% on time and Thursday the weakest at 75.8%. 19 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SJC in September

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 90.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 83.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,259 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SJC in September 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,259	83.1%	48 min	0.58%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	646	90.4%	64 min	0.15%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	196	94.4%	63 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	194	82.0%	51 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	169	91.1%	48 min	0.59%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	128	88.8%	67 min	1.56%	A
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	68	80.3%	59 min	1.47%	B
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	60	93.3%	42 min	0.00%	A+

SkyWest leads Southwest by 7 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SJC in September

Routes from SJC in September 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SJC to LAX · Los Angeles	424	89.6%	46 min	0.24%	A+
SJC to SAN · San Diego	398	78.5%	54 min	1.76%	B
SJC to LAS · Las Vegas	375	80.8%	70 min	0.80%	B+
SJC to SEA · Seattle	367	83.1%	46 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to DEN · Denverthin sample	264	81.7%	48 min	0.38%	B+
SJC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	215	83.6%	41 min	0.93%	B+
SJC to BUR · Burbankthin sample	202	87.0%	43 min	0.50%	A+
SJC to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	201	85.4%	55 min	1.49%	A
SJC to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	158	92.4%	80 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to PDX · Portlandthin sample	150	83.2%	47 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to ONT · Ontariothin sample	107	84.9%	37 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	103	82.5%	41 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to AUS · Austinthin sample	95	84.2%	44 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	90	86.4%	66 min	1.11%	A
SJC to ATL · Atlantathin sample	77	98.7%	64 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to BOI · Boisethin sample	60	88.1%	49 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	60	88.3%	27 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	52	98.1%	17 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to MDW · Chicagothin sample	52	86.5%	19 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to DAL · Dallasthin sample	47	93.3%	80 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to GEG · Spokanethin sample	30	76.7%	43 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	30	96.7%	117 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	30	83.3%	25 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to HOU · Houstonthin sample	30	100.0%	—	0.00%	A+
SJC to ORD · Chicagothin sample	30	93.3%	23 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held SJC up in September

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 28,000 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
44%
Carrier
28%
National Airspace System
27%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

44% 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 28,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 29 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 27,696 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.50%, below the national 0.51% 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 3.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 5.4% 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 September

For a September trip through SJC: expect 85.5% on time and 0.50% cancelled, going by September 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 October81.5%
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