Skip to content
DelayAtlas

Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records

FCO→SFO

Rome to San Francisco

Flights
810 both ways
Carriers
2
Distance
6,250 mi
Period
July 2025 to June 2026
—GRADE

No public record scores Rome Fiumicino to San Francisco International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 810 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, flown by United and ITA. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 64.0% of all departures from Rome Fiumicino leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 76.0% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 75.3% of SFO's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.

On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Rome Fiumicino ranks 27th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.

Key figures

Flights

810

Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)

Carriers

2

United Airlines, ITA Airways

FCO departures on time

64.0%

All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)

SFO domestic on time

75.3%

US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures

Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 0.1 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Rome Fiumicino so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from SFO ran about an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.00% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.

Carrier by carrier

Who flies FCO to SFO

United Airlines flew 50% of the 810 flights between FCO and SFO in the DOT's count, with ITA Airways on 403. Loads averaged 230 passengers a flight, which on this route means wide-body aircraft nearly full.

Carriers on FCO to SFO by flights operated
AirlineFlightsSharePer monthPassengers / flight
United Airlines40750%34230
ITA Airways40350%34230

DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.

Across the year

How often FCO to SFO flies through the year

The DOT's international report puts 124 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 0 in February 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.

Flights per month, both directions

  • July 2025124
  • August 2025118
  • September 2025120
  • October 202575
  • November 202523
  • December 20250
  • January 20268
  • February 20260
  • March 202632
  • April 202687
  • May 2026105
  • June 2026118
Flights in both directions together, as the DOT international report counts them; flights per calendar month.

The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 810 between FCO and SFO from July 2025 to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, carrying 186,386 passengers. That makes it the 8th busiest of 16 US routes from Rome Fiumicino and the 7th busiest of 13 European routes into SFO.

The departure airport

How Rome Fiumicino is running

EUROCONTROL's figures for Rome Fiumicino as a whole, every airline and every destination: 64.0% of departures and 76.0% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.8% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 49.8% for departures, 14 points worse than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.1 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.1 over the last week.

EUROCONTROL punctuality at Rome Fiumicino
WindowDepartures on timeArrivals on timeSchedules operatedATFM delay / arrival
Yesterday (21 October 2026)59.6%72.4%96.4%0.0 min
Last 7 days49.8%63.5%96.2%0.1 min
Year to date64.0%76.0%96.8%0.1 min

Every US route from Rome Fiumicino, and its full punctuality record

The arrival airport

Landing at San Francisco International

San Francisco International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 75.3% of its 148,532 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running about an hour late, and 1.00% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at SFO reaches a flight from FCO just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Domestic on time

75.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)

Avg delay

68 min

Delayed domestic flights only

Cancelled

1.00%

Domestic departures

148,532

Last twelve months

San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Your rights

EC 261/2004 on FCO to SFO

Every flight that departs Rome Fiumicino falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at San Francisco International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from SFO is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 6,250 miles, 10,056 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

What to do with this

Booking FCO to SFO

There is no grade to give FCO to SFO without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about one departure a day in each direction, a choice of two carriers, a departure airport that gets 64% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 75% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at SFO; immigration comes before the connecting flight.

Common questions

FCO to SFO questions

How often are FCO to SFO flights delayed?

No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (64.0% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and SFO's domestic record in the DOT data (75.3% on time).

Which airlines fly FCO to SFO?

United Airlines and ITA Airways, in order of flights operated between July 2025 and June 2026. United Airlines accounted for 50% of the 810 flights the DOT counted on the pair.

Can I claim compensation for a delayed FCO to SFO flight?

Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Rome Fiumicino are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from SFO is covered only on an EU carrier.

How many flights a day are there from FCO to SFO?

About one departure a day in each direction: the DOT counted 810 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 124 in July 2025 and falling to 0 in February 2026.

Related

Where to go next

Italy publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.

Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.