Route profile
ABQ→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City, 493 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 99% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,430 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ABQ → SLC arrives on time 93.3% of the time; the return trip, SLC → ABQ, arrives on time 90.2% of the time, a 3.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ABQ → SLC spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 493-mile trip: 16.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ABQ and 6.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 100% of 3,357 comparable routes.
96.2% on time in its best month (September) against 91.1% in its worst (March).
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ABQ to SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ABQ to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 93.5% arrive on time, 25 points ahead of the 68.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 25.7 points.
ABQ to SLC holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 95.4% on time to their 78.1%, a 17.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 18.2 points.
July is kinder to ABQ to SLC than to routes of similar length: 93.3% on time against 70.2%, 23.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 23.6 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on ABQ to SLC than on its routes of similar length: 92.9% on time here, 80.1% there, 12.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 11.7 points.
ABQ to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 93.5% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | +25.0 pts | 153 here, 83,883 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 95.4% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +17.3 pts | 500 here, 206,257 there |
| Month: July | 93.3% | routes of similar length | 70.2% | +23.1 pts | 416 here, 152,484 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 92.9% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | +12.8 pts | 2,888 here, 72,207 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 493 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
7 min late
against a median of 13 min early
Percentiles over 3,430 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from ABQ.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 16% | High risk |
| 45 min | 6.6% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.1% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 2.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.3% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.20% of the time and diverts 0.03% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,422 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 7 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,430 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ABQ → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.8% of the time, against 88.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 6.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.7% on time from 919 flights
- 6 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 96.1% on time from 153 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 92.5% on time from 214 flights
- 12 PM: 93.4% on time from 912 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 92.6% on time from 498 flights
- 6 PM: 87.4% on time from 452 flights
- 7 PM: 93.5% on time from 153 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why ABQ → SLC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ABQ → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,891 | 92.9% | 0.07% | -12 min | 2.1% |
| Delta Air Lines | 539 | 95.1% | 0.93% | -15 min | 2.6% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 84.3% of the 3,430 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 2.2 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 3.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 92.0%
- Feb: 93.2%
- Mar: 91.1%
- Apr: 93.6%
- May: 93.0%
- Jun: 93.4%
- Jul: 93.3%
- Aug: 92.6%
- Sep: 96.2%
- Oct: 93.4%
- Nov: 94.2%
- Dec: 93.5%
March is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 5.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (92)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (89)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (81)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (84)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2026: 93.3% from 120 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 93.6% against 93.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,430 ABQ → SLC flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed