Airport month record
SNAFEB
John Wayne Airport in February 2026
- Departures
- 3,343
- Month
- February 2026
- National, same month
- 80.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at SNA, see live FAA status.
SNA in February earns an A+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 6 points better than the national rate of 80.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 3,343 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,072 at 87.2% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 87.2% on time across 1,072 flights.
Key figures
On time
85.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,307 completed departures
Avg delay
73 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.93%
Nationally in February: 2.25%
Whole year
81.5%
SNA across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,343 departures from John Wayne Airport in February 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
February next to SNA's other months
Against SNA's own year, February ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 81.5%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, January ran 86.5% on time and March 83.8%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,002 | 75.7% | 72 min | 1.42% | B |
| August 2025 | 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 (this page) | 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 February
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 12 points, against 6 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am520 flights93.6%
- 8am–11am559 flights87.9%
- 11am–2pm897 flights82.8%
- 2pm–5pm576 flights82.0%
- 5pm–8pm636 flights83.6%
- 8pm–5am155 flights91.4%
Scale runs 75% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.6% of the time, against 82.0% for the afternoon window. That is 12 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 897 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 89.8% on time and Thursday the weakest at 82.1%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SNA in February
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 87.2% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 80.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 411 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,072 | 87.2% | 47 min | 0.56% | A+ |
| American Airlines | 509 | 82.3% | 74 min | 1.38% | B |
| United Airlines | 441 | 86.1% | 62 min | 1.36% | A |
| SkyWest Airlines | 411 | 80.9% | 91 min | 0.24% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 339 | 92.9% | 42 min | 0.88% | A+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 324 | 80.7% | 114 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 84 | 91.1% | 91 min | 5.95% | A− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 82 | 97.5% | 104 min | 1.22% | A |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 81 | 82.7% | 109 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Southwest leads SkyWest by 6 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 February
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNA to PHX · Phoenix | 365 | 88.4% | 46 min | 1.10% | A |
| SNA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 340 | 87.8% | 61 min | 1.47% | A |
| SNA to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 319 | 79.2% | 97 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| SNA to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 282 | 89.6% | 84 min | 1.42% | A |
| SNA to DEN · Denverthin sample | 257 | 86.2% | 73 min | 0.39% | A+ |
| SNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 214 | 83.9% | 97 min | 1.40% | B |
| SNA to SJC · San Josethin sample | 212 | 85.6% | 43 min | 1.42% | A |
| SNA to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 172 | 87.2% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 166 | 91.0% | 46 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 163 | 78.5% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SNA to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 153 | 86.2% | 79 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 107 | 94.3% | 27 min | 0.93% | A+ |
| SNA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 84 | 91.7% | 31 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 83 | 85.7% | 90 min | 6.02% | A− |
| SNA to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 70 | 81.4% | 185 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SNA to STS · Santa Rosathin sample | 44 | 88.6% | 60 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 42 | 76.2% | 100 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SNA to BOI · Boisethin sample | 36 | 88.9% | 193 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to PVU · Provothin sample | 31 | 90.3% | 132 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SNA up in February
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 34,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Late-arriving aircraft
- 36%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
39% 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 34,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 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 34,225 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 0.93% against a national 2.25%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.15%.
5.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.5%. 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 February
For a February trip through SNA: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 85.7% on time with 0.93% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- John Wayne Airport (SNA), the whole year
- SNA in July75.7%
- SNA in August80.6%
- SNA in September84.7%
- SNA in October82.9%
- SNA in November80.8%
- SNA in December79.4%
- SNA in January86.5%
- 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.