Airport month record

SLCMAR

Salt Lake City International in March 2026

Departures: 10,632
Month: March 2026
National, same month: 75.7%
Carriers: 8

Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at SLC, see live FAA status.

SLC in March 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 10 points better than the national rate of 75.7%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 10,632 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 3,193 at 91.3% on time.

SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 91.3% on time across 3,193 flights.

On time

85.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,481 completed departures

Avg delay

67 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.21%

Nationally in March: 2.90%

Whole year

84.8%

SLC across all twelve months

These figures cover 10,632 departures from Salt Lake City International in March 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

March next to SLC's other months

Against SLC's own year, March ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 84.8%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 1.21% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 85.5% on time and April 84.4%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

SLC month by month
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	9,515	85.5%	66 min	1.79%	A
February 2026	9,167	85.5%	73 min	0.99%	A+
March 2026 (this page)	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 March

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 10 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am961 flights92.3%
8am–11am2,264 flights88.5%
11am–2pm1,962 flights83.7%
2pm–5pm1,946 flights82.6%
5pm–8pm1,356 flights82.2%
8pm–5am2,143 flights86.9%

Scale runs 75% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.3% of the time, against 82.2% for the evening window. That is 10 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 2,264 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 89.6% on time and Friday the weakest at 83.6%. 6 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SLC in March

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 91.3% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 77.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,011 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SLC in March 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	4,764	85.4%	62 min	1.66%	A
SkyWest Airlines	3,193	91.3%	67 min	0.31%	A+
Southwest Airlines	1,011	77.0%	45 min	0.89%	B+
United Airlines	531	81.0%	100 min	2.45%	B
American Airlines	497	81.7%	133 min	1.21%	B
Frontier Airlines	374	86.1%	70 min	1.87%	A
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	173	76.8%	59 min	2.89%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	89	68.2%	65 min	0.00%	C+

The spread between SkyWest and Southwest is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SLC in March

Routes from SLC in March 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SLC to DEN · Denver	672	80.4%	60 min	0.74%	B+
SLC to PHX · Phoenix	582	87.5%	60 min	0.69%	A+
SLC to LAX · Los Angeles	422	88.8%	59 min	0.71%	A+
SLC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	358	84.6%	103 min	1.40%	B
SLC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	343	79.4%	41 min	1.17%	B
SLC to SEA · Seattlethin sample	335	84.3%	58 min	3.28%	B−
SLC to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	325	83.9%	63 min	0.92%	B+
SLC to ORD · Chicagothin sample	317	70.0%	119 min	2.21%	C
SLC to SAN · San Diegothin sample	293	91.0%	69 min	1.02%	A
SLC to ATL · Atlantathin sample	255	84.3%	74 min	1.57%	B
SLC to IAH · Houstonthin sample	211	83.6%	84 min	3.32%	B−
SLC to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	197	80.9%	57 min	1.02%	B
SLC to PDX · Portlandthin sample	194	88.5%	57 min	1.55%	A
SLC to AUS · Austinthin sample	170	85.2%	45 min	0.59%	A+
SLC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	169	92.2%	54 min	1.18%	A
SLC to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	169	84.2%	57 min	2.37%	B
SLC to EWR · Newarkthin sample	167	82.5%	94 min	2.99%	B
SLC to SGU · St. Georgethin sample	151	95.4%	147 min	0.00%	A+
SLC to BOI · Boisethin sample	148	88.5%	54 min	0.00%	A+
SLC to OAK · Oaklandthin sample	145	86.1%	54 min	0.69%	A+
SLC to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	145	85.3%	77 min	1.38%	A
SLC to GEG · Spokanethin sample	144	89.4%	57 min	1.39%	A
SLC to SJC · San Josethin sample	138	85.4%	53 min	0.72%	A+
SLC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	138	86.2%	55 min	0.00%	A+
SLC to BOS · Bostonthin sample	132	80.3%	52 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held SLC up in March

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 46% of the 100,000 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.

Carrier
46%
Late-arriving aircraft
30%
National Airspace System
19%
Extreme weather
4%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 46%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 46,000 of the 100,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 100,177 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.21% against a national 2.90%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.21%.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% 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 March

For a March trip through SLC: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 85.8% on time with 1.21% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

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 January85.5%
SLC in February85.5%
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.

Key figures