Airport month record
SNAJUL
John Wayne Airport in July 2025
- Departures
- 4,002
- Month
- July 2025
- National, same month
- 71.1%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for July 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s July. For today’s conditions at SNA, see live FAA status.
SNA in July sits in the middle of the pack with a B. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 5 points better than the national rate of 71.1%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 4,002 flights, of which Alaska Airlines flew 396 at 84.6% on time.
Alaska Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 84.6% on time across 396 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,924 completed departures
Avg delay
72 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.42%
Nationally in July: 2.45%
Whole year
81.5%
SNA across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,002 departures from John Wayne Airport in July 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
July next to SNA's other months
Against SNA's own year, July ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 81.5%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 (this page) | 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 | 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 July
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am594 flights91.0%
- 8am–11am792 flights86.9%
- 11am–2pm903 flights69.5%
- 2pm–5pm722 flights67.2%
- 5pm–8pm709 flights67.7%
- 8pm–5am282 flights73.5%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.0% of the time, against 67.2% 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 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 903 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 85.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 64.0%. 21 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SNA in July
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Alaska Airlines arrives on time 84.6% of the time; American Airlines manages 70.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 594 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,266 | 78.3% | 54 min | 1.82% | B |
| American Airlines | 594 | 70.2% | 80 min | 1.68% | C |
| United Airlines | 547 | 71.5% | 83 min | 0.91% | C+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 471 | 76.8% | 68 min | 0.42% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 396 | 84.6% | 48 min | 3.03% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 396 | 78.7% | 88 min | 0.25% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 125 | 78.2% | 67 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 123 | 50.0% | 111 min | 2.44% | F |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 84 | 71.4% | 93 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Alaska Airlines cancels 3.0% 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 SNA in July
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNA to LAS · Las Vegas | 414 | 78.9% | 82 min | 1.45% | B |
| SNA to SFO · San Francisco | 398 | 75.4% | 55 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| SNA to PHX · Phoenix | 382 | 79.4% | 83 min | 1.05% | B |
| SNA to SEA · Seattle | 378 | 80.3% | 48 min | 2.12% | B |
| SNA to DEN · Denverthin sample | 347 | 66.9% | 66 min | 0.29% | C+ |
| SNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 262 | 69.4% | 73 min | 3.05% | C− |
| SNA to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 219 | 78.1% | 48 min | 1.83% | B |
| SNA to SJC · San Josethin sample | 217 | 81.7% | 44 min | 1.84% | B |
| SNA to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 209 | 79.8% | 44 min | 2.87% | B |
| SNA to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 205 | 73.9% | 57 min | 0.98% | C+ |
| SNA to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 147 | 85.7% | 41 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 119 | 92.2% | 37 min | 2.52% | A |
| SNA to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 107 | 78.1% | 196 min | 0.93% | B+ |
| SNA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 93 | 77.5% | 94 min | 1.08% | B |
| SNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 93 | 66.3% | 167 min | 3.23% | C− |
| SNA to STS · Santa Rosathin sample | 62 | 53.2% | 62 min | 0.00% | F+ |
| SNA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 52 | 78.8% | 52 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SNA to PVU · Provothin sample | 46 | 37.8% | 152 min | 2.17% | F |
| SNA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 31 | 46.7% | 97 min | 0.00% | F+ |
| SNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 31 | 67.7% | 72 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| SNA to AUS · Austinthin sample | 31 | 87.1% | 71 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 31 | 87.1% | 24 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SNA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 30 | 76.7% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held SNA up in July
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 69,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%National Airspace System
- 25%Carrier
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
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 69,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 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 69,008 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.42% against a national 2.45%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.52%.
8.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 12.1%. 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 July
For a July trip through SNA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 91.0% on time, and with 8.1% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in January would.
Related
Where to go next
- John Wayne Airport (SNA), the whole year
- 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 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.