Airport month record

SNAAUG

John Wayne Airport in August 2025

Departures: 3,918
Month: August 2025
National, same month: 77.4%
Carriers: 9

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

SNA in August lands a B, 3 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,918 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,271 at 83.1% on time.

Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 83.1% on time across 1,271 flights.

On time

80.6%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,855 completed departures

Avg delay

74 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.02%

Nationally in August: 1.08%

Whole year

81.5%

SNA across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,918 departures from John Wayne Airport in August 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

August next to SNA's other months

Against SNA's own year, August ran level with the twelve-month rate of 81.5%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, July ran 75.7% on time and September 84.7%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

SNA month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	4,002	75.7%	72 min	1.42%	B
August 2025 (this page)	3,918	80.6%	74 min	1.02%	B
September 2025	3,751	84.7%	64 min	0.59%	B+
October 2025	3,871	82.9%	74 min	0.59%	B+
November 2025	3,756	80.8%	77 min	1.46%	B
December 2025	3,825	79.4%	74 min	1.15%	B
January 2026	3,611	86.5%	77 min	2.13%	A
February 2026	3,343	85.7%	73 min	0.93%	A+
March 2026	3,821	83.8%	66 min	1.20%	B
April 2026	3,686	82.5%	69 min	0.81%	B+
May 2026	3,835	81.3%	67 min	0.78%	B+
June 2026	3,822	75.1%	75 min	1.05%	B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SNA in August

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 20 points, against 7 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am562 flights93.5%
8am–11am813 flights86.1%
11am–2pm956 flights76.0%
2pm–5pm695 flights73.9%
5pm–8pm646 flights76.0%
8pm–5am246 flights81.9%

Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.5% of the time, against 73.9% for the afternoon window. That is 20 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 956 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 74.3%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SNA in August

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 83.1% of the time; American Airlines manages 75.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 571 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SNA in August 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	1,271	83.1%	46 min	0.47%	B+
American Airlines	571	75.9%	115 min	2.80%	B
United Airlines	517	79.9%	82 min	1.74%	B
SkyWest Airlines	468	82.2%	54 min	0.21%	B+
Delta Air Lines	415	80.5%	77 min	0.48%	B+
Alaska Airlines	386	82.9%	47 min	1.30%	B
Allegiant Airthin sample	103	64.7%	151 min	0.97%	D+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	102	82.4%	102 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	85	75.3%	65 min	0.00%	B+

Southwest leads American by 7 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SNA in August

Routes from SNA in August 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SNA to SFO · San Francisco	425	82.2%	55 min	0.47%	B+
SNA to LAS · Las Vegas	372	82.8%	61 min	0.00%	B+
SNA to PHX · Phoenix	367	82.8%	56 min	0.00%	B+
SNA to SEA · Seattlethin sample	358	74.9%	56 min	0.84%	C+
SNA to DEN · Denverthin sample	312	75.2%	55 min	1.60%	B
SNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	255	78.0%	143 min	5.10%	B−
SNA to SJC · San Josethin sample	219	89.0%	34 min	0.46%	A+
SNA to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	209	90.9%	52 min	0.48%	A+
SNA to ORD · Chicagothin sample	206	72.8%	97 min	2.91%	C
SNA to OAK · Oaklandthin sample	206	85.3%	63 min	0.97%	A+
SNA to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	147	89.8%	95 min	0.00%	A+
SNA to PDX · Portlandthin sample	133	93.1%	34 min	2.26%	A
SNA to ATL · Atlantathin sample	106	84.5%	72 min	0.94%	B+
SNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	93	72.5%	144 min	1.08%	C
SNA to IAH · Houstonthin sample	93	81.7%	82 min	0.00%	B+
SNA to STS · Santa Rosathin sample	62	83.6%	86 min	1.61%	B
SNA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	52	76.9%	78 min	0.00%	B+
SNA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	46	65.2%	58 min	0.00%	C+
SNA to PVU · Provothin sample	40	57.5%	112 min	0.00%	D+
SNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	31	93.3%	21 min	0.00%	A+
SNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	31	43.3%	37 min	0.00%	F+
SNA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	31	71.0%	90 min	0.00%	C+
SNA to AUS · Austinthin sample	31	77.4%	70 min	0.00%	B+
SNA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	30	55.2%	38 min	0.00%	D+

Delay causes

What held SNA up in August

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 55,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
41%
Carrier
35%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
5%
Security
0%

41% 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 55,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 8 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 55,424 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.02% against a national 1.08%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.59%.

5.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from SNA in August

For a August trip through SNA: expect 80.6% on time and 1.02% cancelled, going by August 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

John Wayne Airport (SNA), the whole year
SNA in July75.7%
SNA in September84.7%
SNA in October82.9%
SNA in November80.8%
SNA in December79.4%
SNA in January86.5%
SNA in February85.7%
SNA in March83.8%
SNA in April82.5%
SNA in May81.3%
SNA in June75.1%

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