Route profile
SLC→SNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Santa Ana, 588 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 89% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,422 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → SNA arrives on time 84.3% of the time; the return trip, SNA → SLC, arrives on time 86.6% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → SNA spends 25.8 minutes on the ground on a 588-mile trip: 17.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 8.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at SNA.
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 94% of 3,357 comparable routes.
89.8% on time in its best month (March) against 80.0% in its worst (July).
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 SLC to SNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to SNA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 88.9% arrive on time, 21.3 points ahead of the 67.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.5 points.
SLC to SNA struggles most at 10 AM: 77.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.3 points behind the 85.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
SLC to SNA holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 83.9% on time to their 76.7%, a 7.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
March is kinder to SLC to SNA than to routes of similar length: 89.8% on time against 78.6%, 11.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SLC to SNA than on its routes of similar length: 84.1% on time here, 81.9% there, 2.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.6 points.
SLC to SNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 67.6% | +21.3 pts | 722 here, 65,909 there |
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 77.7% | routes of similar length | 85.0% | −7.3 pts | 238 here, 119,893 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 83.9% | routes of similar length | 76.7% | +7.2 pts | 799 here, 293,856 there |
| Month: March | 89.8% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +11.2 pts | 452 here, 160,882 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 81.9% | +2.2 pts | 5,063 here, 414,025 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 588 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
27 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 5,422 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SNA after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 30% | High risk |
| 45 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.4% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.7% | 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 0.37% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,385 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 27 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,422 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → SNA flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 80.8% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 8.1 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 307 flights
- 8 AM: 89.3% on time from 842 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 77.7% on time from 239 flights
- 11 AM: 83.2% on time from 901 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 79.4% on time from 1,140 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 82.9% on time from 836 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 85.8% on time from 395 flights
- 9 PM: 88.9% on time from 729 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SLC → SNA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 SLC → SNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,093 | 84.1% | 0.29% | -8 min | 4.4% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 222 | 87.3% | 0.45% | -10 min | 5.0% |
Delta Air Lines flew 95.8% of the 5,315 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 3.2 percentage points more often than Delta Air Lines on this route.
Other ways to fly Salt Lake City to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLC→LAX Salt Lake City to Los Angeles | 13,286 | 85.0% | 0.33% | -8 min | 84 |
| SLC→SNA this route Salt Lake City to Santa Ana | 5,422 | 84.3% | 0.37% | -8 min | 81 |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1198 (8:05 AM) arrived on time 89.7% of the time, 9.7 points more often than DL1189 (11:10 AM) at 80.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.8%
- Feb: 83.7%
- Mar: 89.8%
- Apr: 83.8%
- May: 83.5%
- Jun: 82.4%
- Jul: 80.0%
- Aug: 86.0%
- Sep: 84.0%
- Oct: 87.7%
- Nov: 84.5%
- Dec: 85.5%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 9.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.7% from 150 flights
- August 2023: 89.3% from 151 flights
- September 2023: 86.0% from 144 flights
- October 2023: 92.7% from 150 flights
- November 2023: 83.4% from 145 flights
- December 2023: 92.8% from 152 flights
- January 2024: 75.4% from 130 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 88.1% from 143 flights
- April 2024: 82.9% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 80.7% from 150 flights
- June 2024: 80.6% from 144 flights
- July 2024: 77.5% from 147 flights
- August 2024: 83.9% from 149 flights
- September 2024: 83.2% from 143 flights
- October 2024: 92.5% from 148 flights
- November 2024: 87.1% from 139 flights
- December 2024: 83.1% from 150 flights
- January 2025: 85.0% from 128 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 88.7% from 144 flights
- April 2025: 87.0% from 146 flights
- May 2025: 82.4% from 149 flights
- June 2025: 77.6% from 144 flights
- July 2025: 85.0% from 147 flights
- August 2025: 84.8% from 147 flights
- September 2025: 82.9% from 146 flights
- October 2025: 78.3% from 157 flights
- November 2025: 83.0% from 151 flights
- December 2025: 80.6% from 160 flights
- January 2026: 84.2% from 168 flights
- February 2026: 81.0% from 153 flights
- March 2026: 92.2% from 169 flights
- April 2026: 81.6% from 161 flights
- May 2026: 87.4% from 151 flights
- June 2026: 88.9% from 144 flights
- July 2026: 79.6% from 148 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.8% against 85.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,422 SLC → SNA 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