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F

San Francisco (SFO) departure delays

13,415 departures · 80 routes · February 2025 – July 2026

63.92%

Left on time

Within 15 minutes of schedule

0.7%

Cancelled

Share of departures

61 min

When late, late by

Average delayed departure

#117

Rank

Among graded US airports

What the record says about SFO

SFO is one of the later-running airports in the record. When an airport is this congested the cause is usually structural — runway capacity, airspace, or a hub airline scheduling more departures into a peak than the field can clear — and no airline flying from it escapes entirely.

The airlines flying from here are not equally affected. British Airways left on time 45.8 points more often than Southwest Airlines from the same airport — which is the clearest evidence available that a delayed departure is not purely the airport's fault.

With 40 routes in the record, SFO is a hub, and hubs carry a particular risk: a delay early in the day propagates through every aircraft that was due to fly on afterwards. Morning departures from a hub are reliably better than evening ones.

Which airlines run best out of SFO

Airline Departures On time
British Airways 1,057 81.9%
Virgin Atlantic 775 77.8%
United Airlines 7,097 75.7%
American Airlines 1,156 69.3%
Alaska Airlines 965 69.2%
JetBlue Airways 435 65.8%
Delta Air Lines 1,266 64.5%
SkyWest Airlines 2,549 62.4%
Frontier Airlines 391 57.4%
Southwest Airlines 954 36.1%

Routes out of SFO

SFO → LHR London 3,078 flights · 80.3% on time B SFO → LAX Los Angeles 1,079 flights · 60.67% on time D SFO → SEA Seattle 633 flights · 60.1% on time F SFO → JFK New York 611 flights · 71.24% on time D SFO → SAN San Diego 602 flights · 54.07% on time F SFO → ORD Chicago 530 flights · 70.38% on time D SFO → LAS Las Vegas 511 flights · 61.14% on time F SFO → BOS Boston 502 flights · 68.88% on time D SFO → DEN Denver 494 flights · 63.75% on time D SFO → DFW Dallas/Fort Worth 424 flights · 60.95% on time F SFO → PHX Phoenix 384 flights · 64.49% on time D SFO → SNA Santa Ana 373 flights · 68.94% on time D SFO → EWR Newark 371 flights · 77.6% on time B SFO → ATL Atlanta 304 flights · 77.48% on time C SFO → IAH Houston 300 flights · 81.94% on time B SFO → SLC Salt Lake City 291 flights · 61.81% on time F SFO → PDX Portland 289 flights · 68.17% on time D SFO → HNL Honolulu 270 flights · 83.96% on time B SFO → BUR Burbank 261 flights · 58.53% on time F SFO → AUS Austin 242 flights · 61.41% on time D SFO → IAD Washington 234 flights · 72.65% on time C SFO → PHL Philadelphia 230 flights · 85.46% on time B SFO → PSP Palm Springs 194 flights · 58.25% on time — SFO → MSP Minneapolis 184 flights · 57.61% on time — SFO → OGG Kahului 181 flights · 85% on time — SFO → DTW Detroit 177 flights · 68% on time — SFO → MIA Miami 174 flights · 68.39% on time — SFO → SBA Santa Barbara 150 flights · 70% on time — SFO → KOA Kona 146 flights · 89.73% on time — SFO → RNO Reno 146 flights · 54.79% on time — SFO → CLT Charlotte 141 flights · 77.54% on time — SFO → BOI Boise 132 flights · 61.36% on time — SFO → RDM Bend/Redmond 125 flights · 58.06% on time — SFO → ONT Ontario 120 flights · 71.43% on time — SFO → LIH Lihue 116 flights · 89.66% on time — SFO → ACV Arcata/Eureka 108 flights · 55.68% on time — SFO → BNA Nashville 107 flights · 59.81% on time — SFO → GEG Spokane 98 flights · 56.12% on time — SFO → FLL Fort Lauderdale 90 flights · 82.22% on time — SFO → DCA Washington 90 flights · 74.16% on time —