Airport month record

SMFMAY

Sacramento International in May 2026

Departures: 4,945
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 8

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

SMF in May lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,945 flights, of which United Airlines flew 423 at 91.4% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 91.4% on time across 423 flights.

On time

81.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,920 completed departures

Avg delay

57 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.36%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

82.1%

SMF across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,945 departures from Sacramento International in May 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

May next to SMF's other months

Against SMF's own year, May ran level with the twelve-month rate of 82.1%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SMF in May, at 0.36% against 0.68% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 83.8% on time and June 78.0%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

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 (this page)	4,945	81.8%	57 min	0.36%	B+
June 2026	4,900	78.0%	52 min	0.51%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SMF in May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,022 flights93.2%
8am–11am815 flights90.6%
11am–2pm930 flights80.3%
2pm–5pm691 flights68.7%
5pm–8pm695 flights75.2%
8pm–5am792 flights77.2%

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 93.2% of the time, against 68.7% for the afternoon window. That is 25 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 1,022 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 91.5% on time and Monday the weakest at 76.7%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SMF in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 91.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 78.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,719 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SMF in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,719	78.1%	44 min	0.18%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	776	82.3%	78 min	0.39%	B+
United Airlines	423	91.4%	51 min	0.71%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	316	93.0%	83 min	0.32%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	299	84.2%	121 min	1.34%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	280	89.2%	78 min	0.36%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	76	74.7%	50 min	1.32%	C
Envoy Airthin sample	38	89.5%	64 min	0.00%	A+

The spread between United 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 SMF in May

Routes from SMF in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SMF to LAX · Los Angeles	525	85.0%	81 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to SAN · San Diego	466	69.1%	43 min	0.64%	C+
SMF to SEA · Seattle	389	85.6%	39 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	341	82.1%	53 min	0.29%	B+
SMF to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	333	77.6%	50 min	0.60%	B+
SMF to DEN · Denverthin sample	321	85.9%	50 min	0.31%	A+
SMF to BUR · Burbankthin sample	225	79.9%	40 min	0.44%	B+
SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	200	85.9%	75 min	0.50%	A+
SMF to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	192	82.3%	51 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to ONT · Ontariothin sample	187	83.3%	61 min	0.53%	B+
SMF to PDX · Portlandthin sample	167	87.4%	77 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to ORD · Chicagothin sample	152	86.1%	104 min	0.66%	A+
SMF to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	144	82.6%	35 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	143	79.4%	116 min	2.80%	B
SMF to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	112	51.8%	56 min	1.79%	F
SMF to ATL · Atlantathin sample	87	93.1%	52 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to BOI · Boisethin sample	67	80.6%	28 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to IAH · Houstonthin sample	62	87.1%	45 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to MDW · Chicagothin sample	62	85.5%	38 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to DAL · Dallasthin sample	62	71.0%	46 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	62	90.3%	33 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	56	96.4%	68 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to GEG · Spokanethin sample	49	71.4%	59 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	48	87.5%	60 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample	44	95.5%	55 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held SMF up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 50,000 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
49%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
18%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

49% 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 50,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 33 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 50,381 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.36%, below the national 0.92% 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 7.1% 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 SMF in May

For a May trip through SMF: expect 81.8% on time and 0.36% cancelled, going by May 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

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 June78.0%

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