Airport month record
SMFNOV
Sacramento International in November 2025
- Departures
- 4,662
- Month
- November 2025
- National, same month
- 79.4%
- Carriers
- 8
Historical statistics for November 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s November. For today’s conditions at SMF, see live FAA status.
SMF in November lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.4%. 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 4,662 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 804 at 81.6% on time.
Key figures
On time
81.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,573 completed departures
Avg delay
57 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.78%
Nationally in November: 2.49%
Whole year
82.1%
SMF across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,662 departures from Sacramento International in November 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
November next to SMF's other months
Against SMF's own year, November ran level with the twelve-month rate of 82.1%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where November stands out: 1.78% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, October ran 81.5% on time and December 79.2%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| 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 (this page) | 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 | 4,900 | 78.0% | 52 min | 0.51% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SMF in November
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 2 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am992 flights91.7%
- 8am–11am947 flights85.9%
- 11am–2pm878 flights81.6%
- 2pm–5pm784 flights72.8%
- 5pm–8pm574 flights75.0%
- 8pm–5am487 flights76.5%
Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.7% of the time, against 72.8% for the afternoon window. That is 19 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 992 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 76.3%. 12 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SMF in November
The two carriers here are closely matched: 2 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,679 | 79.8% | 56 min | 1.01% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 804 | 81.6% | 55 min | 4.60% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 363 | 88.0% | 70 min | 1.10% | A |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 271 | 91.4% | 137 min | 1.85% | A |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 258 | 86.5% | 60 min | 2.33% | A |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 141 | 79.0% | 35 min | 2.13% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample | 90 | 83.1% | 29 min | 1.11% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 53 | 79.2% | 38 min | 0.00% | B+ |
SkyWest Airlines cancels 4.6% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SMF in November
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF to LAX · Los Angeles | 456 | 85.7% | 57 min | 2.19% | A |
| SMF to SAN · San Diego | 440 | 69.0% | 57 min | 3.86% | C− |
| SMF to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 356 | 79.8% | 52 min | 2.25% | B |
| SMF to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 341 | 84.7% | 39 min | 0.29% | B+ |
| SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 330 | 75.7% | 52 min | 1.52% | B |
| SMF to DEN · Denverthin sample | 317 | 86.7% | 42 min | 0.63% | A+ |
| SMF to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 235 | 80.8% | 59 min | 2.13% | B |
| SMF to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 192 | 83.9% | 59 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 182 | 91.1% | 95 min | 1.65% | A |
| SMF to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 178 | 86.4% | 57 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 171 | 81.2% | 53 min | 0.58% | B+ |
| SMF to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 139 | 85.1% | 40 min | 3.60% | A− |
| SMF to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 129 | 82.3% | 72 min | 3.10% | B− |
| SMF to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 118 | 53.8% | 56 min | 10.17% | F− |
| SMF to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 91 | 75.9% | 89 min | 3.30% | B− |
| SMF to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 77 | 93.3% | 312 min | 2.60% | A |
| SMF to BOI · Boisethin sample | 75 | 74.7% | 97 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| SMF to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 60 | 95.0% | 31 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 60 | 88.3% | 35 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 58 | 75.0% | 40 min | 3.45% | B− |
| SMF to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 57 | 93.0% | 98 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to GEG · Spokanethin sample | 48 | 87.5% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample | 45 | 80.0% | 73 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SMF to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample | 43 | 90.7% | 32 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SMF to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 36 | 91.4% | 24 min | 2.78% | A |
Delay causes
What held SMF up in November
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 47,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%National Airspace System
- 28%Carrier
- 3%Extreme weather
42% 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 47,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 17 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 46,755 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.78% against a national 2.49%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.13%.
5.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.8%. 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 about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from SMF in November
For a November trip through SMF: expect 81.8% on time and 1.78% cancelled, going by November 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Sacramento International (SMF), the whole year
- SMF in July78.9%
- SMF in August82.7%
- SMF in September84.7%
- SMF in October81.5%
- SMF in December79.2%
- SMF in January85.0%
- SMF in February85.3%
- SMF in March84.2%
- SMF in April83.8%
- SMF in May81.8%
- 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.