Airport month record

SMFOCT

Sacramento International in October 2025

Departures: 4,937
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 8

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at SMF, see live FAA status.

SMF in October lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by roughly 55 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,937 flights, of which United Airlines flew 384 at 90.8% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 90.8% on time across 384 flights.

On time

81.5%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,906 completed departures

Avg delay

54 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.38%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

82.1%

SMF across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,937 departures from Sacramento International in October 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

October next to SMF's other months

Against SMF's own year, October ran level with the twelve-month rate of 82.1%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SMF in October, at 0.38% against 0.68% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 84.7% on time and November 81.8%, 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 (this page)	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	4,900	78.0%	52 min	0.51%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SMF in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,004 flights93.9%
8am–11am922 flights88.7%
11am–2pm939 flights82.5%
2pm–5pm849 flights70.1%
5pm–8pm648 flights74.1%
8pm–5am575 flights72.1%

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 93.9% of the time, against 70.1% for the afternoon window. That is 24 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 1,004 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 87.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 73.5%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SMF in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 90.8% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 78.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,750 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SMF in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,750	78.6%	49 min	0.29%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	917	84.6%	62 min	0.22%	B+
United Airlines	384	90.8%	39 min	0.26%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	313	80.0%	86 min	0.96%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	302	91.4%	69 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	107	76.0%	36 min	2.80%	B
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	93	74.7%	83 min	2.15%	C
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	35	80.0%	49 min	0.00%	B+

The spread between United and Southwest is 12 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 12 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SMF in October

Routes from SMF in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SMF to LAX · Los Angeles	517	86.8%	66 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to SAN · San Diego	424	72.4%	47 min	0.47%	C+
SMF to SEA · Seattle	395	81.5%	50 min	0.76%	B+
SMF to LAS · Las Vegas	382	75.1%	51 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to DEN · Denverthin sample	335	89.9%	46 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	280	74.2%	72 min	0.36%	C+
SMF to BUR · Burbankthin sample	242	80.6%	57 min	2.89%	B
SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	191	89.5%	51 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	185	78.4%	42 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to ONT · Ontariothin sample	181	85.0%	64 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	163	90.8%	43 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to PDX · Portlandthin sample	155	73.4%	53 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	145	63.4%	43 min	0.00%	D+
SMF to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	145	80.3%	67 min	2.07%	B
SMF to ORD · Chicagothin sample	124	82.9%	56 min	0.81%	B+
SMF to ATL · Atlantathin sample	85	90.6%	65 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	62	72.6%	71 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to BOI · Boisethin sample	58	82.8%	40 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	58	98.3%	44 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to GEG · Spokanethin sample	57	71.9%	58 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to DAL · Dallasthin sample	56	74.5%	52 min	0.00%	C+
SMF to IAH · Houstonthin sample	55	90.7%	29 min	0.00%	A+
SMF to MDW · Chicagothin sample	55	81.8%	24 min	0.00%	B+
SMF to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample	44	92.9%	84 min	2.27%	A
SMF to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	44	93.2%	36 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held SMF up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 49,000 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
51%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

51% 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 49,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 31 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 48,741 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.38%, below the national 0.53% 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.

5.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 55 minutes, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from SMF in October

For a October trip through SMF: expect 81.5% on time and 0.38% cancelled, going by October 2025. 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 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%
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