Airport month record

SMFJUN

Sacramento International in June 2026

Departures: 4,900
Month: June 2026
National, same month: 74.3%
Carriers: 9

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

SMF in June lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 74.3%. 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 4,900 flights, of which United Airlines flew 411 at 84.8% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 84.8% on time across 411 flights.

On time

78.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,862 completed departures

Avg delay

52 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.51%

Nationally in June: 1.65%

Whole year

82.1%

SMF across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,900 departures from Sacramento International in June 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

June next to SMF's other months

Against SMF's own year, June ran 4 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 82.1%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data.

SMF month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	5,494	78.9%	63 min	0.69%	B+
August 2025	5,089	82.7%	58 min	0.53%	B+
September 2025	4,804	84.7%	56 min	0.35%	B+
October 2025	4,937	81.5%	54 min	0.38%	B+
November 2025	4,662	81.8%	57 min	1.78%	B
December 2025	4,531	79.2%	59 min	0.75%	B+
January 2026	4,130	85.0%	67 min	1.33%	A
February 2026	3,935	85.3%	58 min	0.25%	A+
March 2026	4,630	84.2%	61 min	0.91%	B+
April 2026	4,672	83.8%	50 min	0.41%	B+
May 2026	4,945	81.8%	57 min	0.36%	B+
June 2026 (this page)	4,900	78.0%	52 min	0.51%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SMF in June

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,050 flights92.5%
8am–11am848 flights87.8%
11am–2pm839 flights75.8%
2pm–5pm650 flights68.0%
5pm–8pm740 flights66.8%
8pm–5am773 flights69.5%

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 92.5% of the time, against 66.8% for the evening window. That is 26 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,050 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 82.4% on time and Friday the weakest at 73.8%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SMF in June

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 84.8% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 74.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,774 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SMF in June 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,774	74.0%	45 min	0.29%	C+
SkyWest Airlines	697	83.5%	47 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlines	411	84.8%	67 min	1.22%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	314	83.4%	55 min	0.32%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	293	92.1%	55 min	0.34%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	274	75.3%	108 min	3.28%	B−
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	77	77.3%	46 min	1.30%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	30	60.0%	149 min	0.00%	D+
Envoy Airthin sample	30	80.0%	65 min	0.00%	B+

United leads Southwest by 11 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SMF in June

Routes from SMF in June 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SMF to LAX · Los Angeles	522	84.3%	48 min	0.19%	B+
SMF to SAN · San Diego	450	62.6%	39 min	0.22%	D+
SMF to SEA · Seattle	407	77.9%	38 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to DEN · Denver	376	82.0%	52 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	326	78.0%	54 min	0.92%	B+
SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	271	74.9%	49 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to BUR · Burbankthin sample	201	89.4%	69 min	1.00%	A
SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	199	85.9%	67 min	0.50%	A+
SMF to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	189	81.5%	35 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to PDX · Portlandthin sample	189	76.1%	47 min	0.53%	B+
SMF to ONT · Ontariothin sample	177	75.0%	39 min	0.56%	B+
SMF to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	142	81.0%	47 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to ORD · Chicagothin sample	137	75.9%	92 min	1.46%	B
SMF to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	137	74.8%	128 min	5.84%	C−
SMF to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	90	51.1%	57 min	0.00%	F+
SMF to ATL · Atlantathin sample	86	94.2%	47 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to BOI · Boisethin sample	83	73.5%	57 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to MDW · Chicagothin sample	79	84.2%	34 min	1.27%	B
SMF to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	60	96.7%	32 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to IAH · Houstonthin sample	60	78.3%	35 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to DAL · Dallasthin sample	60	62.7%	51 min	0.00%	D+
SMF to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	60	93.3%	63 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	57	93.0%	86 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to GEG · Spokanethin sample	54	61.1%	44 min	0.00%	D+
SMF to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample	43	86.0%	27 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held SMF up in June

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 53% of the 56,000 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
53%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
17%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

53% 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 56,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 45 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 55,808 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.51%, below the national 1.65% 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.

5.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 9.7%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last roughly 50 minutes, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from SMF in June

For a June trip through SMF: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 92.5% on time, and with 5.3% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in February would.

Sacramento International (SMF), the whole year
SMF in July78.9%
SMF in August82.7%
SMF in September84.7%
SMF in October81.5%
SMF in November81.8%
SMF in December79.2%
SMF in January85.0%
SMF in February85.3%
SMF in March84.2%
SMF in April83.8%
SMF in May81.8%

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