Route profile
SFO→BUR
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Burbank, 326 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 55% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,659 flights. How this is calculated
SFO → BUR arrives on time 78.2% of the time; the return trip, BUR → SFO, arrives on time 69.3% of the time, an 8.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → BUR spends 25.3 minutes on the ground on a 326-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 6.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at BUR.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SFO to BUR differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SFO to BUR struggles most at 12 PM: 69.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.8 points behind the 81.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
SFO to BUR is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 80.4% arrive on time, 9.4 points ahead of the 71.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
In April, SFO to BUR runs 6.8 points below routes of similar length, 74.1% on time to 80.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
July is kinder to SFO to BUR than to routes of similar length: 77.5% on time against 73.2%, 4.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.8 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on SFO to BUR arrive on time 67.7% of the time, 13.4 points below the 81.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
SFO to BUR against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 69.6% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | −11.8 pts | 388 here, 56,789 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 80.4% | routes of similar length | 71.0% | +9.4 pts | 755 here, 68,559 there |
| Month: April | 74.1% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | −6.8 pts | 773 here, 90,555 there |
| Month: July | 77.5% | routes of similar length | 73.2% | +4.3 pts | 1,033 here, 121,532 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 67.7% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | −13.4 pts | 1,221 here, 373,499 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 326 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.
Why SFO → BUR flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SFO → BUR cancelled 102 of 9,659 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 95. The reason filed most often was the air traffic system, 41.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 230 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 102 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
42 cancellations, 41.2% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
39 cancellations, 38.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
21 cancellations, 20.6% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
102 coded cancellations were recorded on SFO → BUR; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,659 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BUR after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.0% | 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 1.06% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,538 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,659 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → BUR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.5% of the time, against 74.1% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 12.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 87.7% on time from 468 flights
- 8 AM: 85.1% on time from 1,107 flights
- 9 AM: 81.1% on time from 440 flights
- 10 AM: 77.0% on time from 1,243 flights
- 11 AM: 81.4% on time from 142 flights
- 12 PM: 69.6% on time from 394 flights
- 1 PM: 74.4% on time from 840 flights
- 2 PM: 77.0% on time from 498 flights
- 3 PM: 72.6% on time from 232 flights
- 4 PM: 80.0% on time from 1,101 flights
- 5 PM: 78.7% on time from 404 flights
- 6 PM: 80.4% on time from 772 flights
- 7 PM: 71.5% on time from 973 flights
- 8 PM: 75.4% on time from 937 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SFO → BUR runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SFO → BUR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SFO → BUR, at 51.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.5% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 74.1%.
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 | 5,009 | 79.2% | 1.16% | -6 min | 7.4% |
| United Airlines | 3,293 | 80.8% | 0.61% | -8 min | 6.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,248 | 67.7% | 1.92% | 0 min | 9.6% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 52.5% of the 9,550 flights listed. Southwest Airlines cancelled 1.92% of its flights here against 0.61% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 13.1 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→LAX San Francisco to Los Angeles | 34,804 | 77.1% | 0.70% | -5 min | 67 |
| SJC→LAX San Jose to Los Angeles | 15,614 | 86.7% | 0.37% | -10 min | 88 |
| SFO→SNA San Francisco to Santa Ana | 13,715 | 80.2% | 1.13% | -6 min | 72 |
| SFO→BUR this route San Francisco to Burbank | 9,659 | 78.2% | 1.06% | -6 min | 67 |
SJC → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.7% on time, against 77.1% for SFO → LAX.
Flying to BUR from the San Francisco area? Compare SFO, SJC, OAK for BUR, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 10.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.8%
- Feb: 78.8%
- Mar: 77.0%
- Apr: 74.1%
- May: 73.0%
- Jun: 71.3%
- Jul: 77.5%
- Aug: 82.4%
- Sep: 83.2%
- Oct: 82.2%
- Nov: 80.8%
- Dec: 75.2%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 12.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.8% from 253 flights
- August 2023: 82.9% from 263 flights
- September 2023: 81.7% from 236 flights
- October 2023: 80.8% from 240 flights
- November 2023: 81.3% from 313 flights
- December 2023: 76.5% from 376 flights
- January 2024: 83.6% from 293 flights
- February 2024: 72.2% from 243 flights
- March 2024: 67.9% from 247 flights
- April 2024: 62.2% from 229 flights
- May 2024: 75.5% from 231 flights
- June 2024: 80.7% from 197 flights
- July 2024: 84.1% from 273 flights
- August 2024: 82.5% from 271 flights
- September 2024: 77.8% from 262 flights
- October 2024: 79.6% from 275 flights
- November 2024: 79.2% from 295 flights
- December 2024: 77.6% from 293 flights
- January 2025: 87.0% from 261 flights
- February 2025: 83.0% from 229 flights
- March 2025: 77.1% from 264 flights
- April 2025: 88.2% from 281 flights
- May 2025: 80.7% from 281 flights
- June 2025: 77.0% from 248 flights
- July 2025: 78.2% from 243 flights
- August 2025: 81.9% from 237 flights
- September 2025: 91.2% from 226 flights
- October 2025: 86.6% from 254 flights
- November 2025: 82.1% from 259 flights
- December 2025: 70.4% from 254 flights
- January 2026: 80.3% from 216 flights
- February 2026: 81.7% from 216 flights
- March 2026: 84.1% from 310 flights
- April 2026: 69.4% from 271 flights
- May 2026: 63.4% from 289 flights
- June 2026: 58.5% from 261 flights
- July 2026: 68.2% from 269 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.1% against 80.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,659 SFO → BUR 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