Southwest Airlines: on-time record for the flights it operated itself, July 2026

These figures count flights reported by Southwest Airlines under its own code.

Southwest Airlines ran 68.0% of the 124,640 flights it operated itself on time in July 2026, within a few points of the national share of 69.4%. One month of data cannot separate a gap that small, so it reads as average.

By raw on-time share Southwest Airlines was number 8 of the 12 airlines with at least 5,000 flights in July 2026, in the middle third of the order. Many of the gaps between neighbours in that order are within what one month of data can move, so the order is a listing, not a verdict.

Against the 11 other airlines with at least 5,000 flights in July 2026, Southwest Airlines was clearly ahead of 3 and clearly behind 3, counting only gaps one month of data can separate.

Late-arriving aircraft led the delay minutes BTS attributed to flights Southwest Airlines operated itself, with 51.6% of the total, the same picture as the national total for July 2026.

By flights operated it was among the biggest reporting airlines, number 1 of 12, so its figure carries real weight in the national total.

The routes did not lean either way: 73 of its 412 ranked routes ran clearly above the national share, 103 clearly below, and 236 within what one month of data can separate. Routes above and below the national figure were about as many, or most were within noise.

5 of its five best routes touch Honolulu, Oahu (HNL), so its strongest results sat around one airport.

5 of its five weakest routes touch San Francisco (SFO), so its weakest results sat around one airport.

Inside its own network the gap was wide: KOA to HNL ran on time 96.0% while DEN to SFO managed 23.3%, a spread of 30 points or more.

None of its best routes touches DEN, its busiest airport, so its strongest results come from elsewhere in the network, away from the main hub.

DEN, its busiest airport, also turns up on its weakest routes, so the hub shares in the poorer results as well as the good ones.

DEN, its busiest airport, appeared among the five routes with the lowest raw on-time share and on none of the five highest.

Departures were spread across its network; even the busiest airport, Denver (DEN), handled just 6.7%, under a quarter.

Its main hub dragged on its network: departures from DEN arrived on time only 62.3%, below the airline-wide 68.0%. The airport carrying most of its traffic was therefore pulling its overall figure down.

With late-arriving aircraft the largest cause, extreme weather added 3.3% of the attributed minutes for flights Southwest Airlines operated itself, close to its national share of 6.4%.

Behind the late-arriving aircraft figure, air carrier delays outweighed NAS delays for flights Southwest Airlines operated itself, 28.5% against 16.3% of the attributed minutes, the same order as the national figures.

Delay minutes for flights Southwest Airlines operated itself were concentrated: Late-arriving aircraft alone supplied 51.6% of them, nearly half or more of everything BTS attributed.

The air carrier category came next for flights Southwest Airlines operated itself, at 28.5% of the attributed delay minutes.

Delay causes are shares of the delay minutes BTS attributes to flights that arrived 15 minutes or more late, not shares of flights. Extreme weather here means BTS's extreme-weather category only; milder weather delays are generally reported under NAS.

A flight counts as on time unless it arrives 15 minutes or more late. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Routes are ranked only with at least 100 of its flights, and airlines are compared only with others that flew at least 5,000 flights.

A difference of a few points between two airlines, or between two directions, is within what one month of data can move. These figures describe July 2026 only.

These are figures for one month, July 2026, not a trend or forecast.

Source: US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, July 2026, as loaded by BookWithAI.