Airport month record
SLCJAN
Salt Lake City International in January 2026
- Departures
- 9,515
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 8
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at SLC, see live FAA status.
SLC in January 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 6 points better than the national rate of 79.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 9,515 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 2,721 at 89.8% on time.
SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 89.8% on time across 2,721 flights.
Key figures
On time
85.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,317 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.79%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
84.8%
SLC across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,515 departures from Salt Lake City International in January 2026. 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
January next to SLC's other months
Against SLC's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 84.8%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 1.79% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.4 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 83.8% on time and February 85.5%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 10,346 | 79.5% | 69 min | 0.67% | B+ |
| August 2025 | 9,985 | 84.3% | 62 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 9,344 | 88.2% | 62 min | 0.19% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 9,841 | 85.7% | 60 min | 0.11% | A+ |
| November 2025 | 9,197 | 86.5% | 71 min | 1.72% | A |
| December 2025 | 9,740 | 83.8% | 64 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| January 2026 (this page) | 9,515 | 85.5% | 66 min | 1.79% | A |
| February 2026 | 9,167 | 85.5% | 73 min | 0.99% | A+ |
| March 2026 | 10,632 | 85.8% | 67 min | 1.21% | A |
| April 2026 | 9,877 | 84.4% | 60 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 10,146 | 85.3% | 57 min | 0.42% | A+ |
| June 2026 | 10,084 | 83.3% | 64 min | 0.48% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SLC in January
Departure time is the single lever a traveller controls, and it moves the odds more than most people expect. Each bar below is the on-time rate for flights scheduled to leave inside that window, across 9,515 flights.
- 5am–8am861 flights88.5%
- 8am–11am1,992 flights84.8%
- 11am–2pm1,935 flights84.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,738 flights85.5%
- 5pm–8pm1,248 flights86.5%
- 8pm–5am1,741 flights84.5%
Scale runs 75% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The early departures do better, though not dramatically: 88.5% on time for the 5am–8am window against 84.5% for 8pm–5am. Worth taking if the schedule allows, not worth an extra connection. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,992 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 90.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 81.4%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SLC in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 89.8% of the time; United Airlines manages 82.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 519 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,452 | 84.3% | 62 min | 1.77% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,721 | 89.8% | 82 min | 1.10% | A |
| Southwest Airlines | 938 | 86.1% | 36 min | 1.17% | A |
| United Airlines | 519 | 82.5% | 56 min | 1.73% | B |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 340 | 81.6% | 76 min | 9.12% | B− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 309 | 81.5% | 104 min | 1.94% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 171 | 73.4% | 65 min | 1.17% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 36 | 73.5% | 83 min | 5.56% | C− |
SkyWest leads United 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 SLC in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLC to DEN · Denver | 634 | 79.6% | 47 min | 0.32% | B+ |
| SLC to PHX · Phoenix | 490 | 86.7% | 83 min | 0.61% | A+ |
| SLC to LAX · Los Angeles | 391 | 85.1% | 54 min | 0.51% | A+ |
| SLC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 326 | 79.3% | 72 min | 9.82% | B− |
| SLC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 319 | 82.6% | 75 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| SLC to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 299 | 83.9% | 36 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| SLC to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 269 | 78.4% | 73 min | 1.86% | B |
| SLC to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 259 | 85.7% | 50 min | 2.32% | A |
| SLC to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 251 | 84.6% | 59 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| SLC to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 237 | 71.8% | 83 min | 1.27% | C |
| SLC to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 193 | 90.1% | 68 min | 0.52% | A+ |
| SLC to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 177 | 86.8% | 52 min | 1.69% | A |
| SLC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 168 | 84.2% | 63 min | 1.79% | B |
| SLC to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 161 | 79.6% | 70 min | 4.97% | B− |
| SLC to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 156 | 87.6% | 58 min | 1.28% | A |
| SLC to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 142 | 83.7% | 48 min | 4.93% | B− |
| SLC to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 142 | 90.8% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SLC to AUS · Austinthin sample | 139 | 87.3% | 82 min | 3.60% | A− |
| SLC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 130 | 93.1% | 46 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SLC to SJC · San Josethin sample | 126 | 88.8% | 87 min | 0.79% | A+ |
| SLC to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 125 | 81.3% | 70 min | 1.60% | B |
| SLC to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 125 | 84.8% | 52 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SLC to BOI · Boisethin sample | 124 | 82.8% | 44 min | 1.61% | B |
| SLC to SGU · St. Georgethin sample | 122 | 91.0% | 77 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SLC to GEG · Spokanethin sample | 120 | 88.8% | 167 min | 0.83% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SLC up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 49% of the 90,000 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.
- 49%Carrier
- 20%Late-arriving aircraft
- 19%National Airspace System
- 13%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 13% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 1.3 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 89,599 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.79% against a national 4.71%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.29%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.3% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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 SLC in January
For a January trip through SLC: expect 85.5% on time and 1.79% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Salt Lake City International (SLC), the whole year
- SLC in July79.5%
- SLC in August84.3%
- SLC in September88.2%
- SLC in October85.7%
- SLC in November86.5%
- SLC in December83.8%
- SLC in February85.5%
- SLC in March85.8%
- SLC in April84.4%
- SLC in May85.3%
- SLC in June83.3%
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.