Route profile
SLC→TUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Tucson, 601 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 100% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,389 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SLC → TUS arrives on time 91.4% of the time; the return trip, TUS → SLC, arrives on time 94.1% of the time, a 2.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → TUS spends 23.5 minutes on the ground on a 601-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 4.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at TUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 99% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 9 min early, and the worst tenth are only 21 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SLC to TUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to TUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 90.0% arrive on time, 22.8 points ahead of the 67.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.6 points.
SLC to TUS holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 90.4% on time to their 74.9%, a 15.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 15.6 points.
July is kinder to SLC to TUS than to routes of similar length: 92.9% on time against 69.4%, 23.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 23.2 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on SLC to TUS than on its routes of similar length: 91.4% on time here, 84.4% there, 7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 10.2 points.
SLC to TUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 90.0% | routes of similar length | 67.2% | +22.8 pts | 530 here, 66,876 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 90.4% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | +15.5 pts | 489 here, 299,210 there |
| Month: July | 92.9% | routes of similar length | 69.4% | +23.5 pts | 366 here, 227,490 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 91.4% | routes of similar length | 84.4% | +7.0 pts | 3,356 here, 119,650 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 601 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
12 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 3,389 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TUS after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 22% | High risk |
| 45 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.1% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 2.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.1% | 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 0.06% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,381 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 12 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,389 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → TUS flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 95.2% of the time, against 85.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 9.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 95.3% on time from 1,130 flights
- 10 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 92.0% on time from 1,001 flights
- 4 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 85.6% on time from 590 flights
- 9 PM: 90.0% on time from 531 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SLC → TUS 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
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → TUS. 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 | 3,364 | 91.4% | 0.06% | -9 min | 2.0% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 2.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.0%
- Feb: 92.0%
- Mar: 88.9%
- Apr: 90.9%
- May: 92.0%
- Jun: 92.6%
- Jul: 92.9%
- Aug: 90.5%
- Sep: 91.4%
- Oct: 93.9%
- Nov: 94.3%
- Dec: 91.5%
January is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 8.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 91.8% against 90.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,389 SLC → TUS 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