Route profile
SMF→BUR
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Sacramento to Burbank, 358 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 86% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,486 flights. How this is calculated
SMF → BUR arrives on time 85.0% of the time; the return trip, BUR → SMF, arrives on time 86.4% of the time.
SMF → BUR spends 13.9 minutes on the ground on a 358-mile trip: 10.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SMF and 3.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at BUR.
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 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
89.0% on time in its best month (February) against 81.0% in its worst (December).
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 SMF to BUR differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SMF to BUR is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 80.9% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 71.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
SMF to BUR holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.0% on time to their 77.7%, a 6.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
July is kinder to SMF to BUR than to routes of similar length: 85.6% on time against 71.8%, 13.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 15.9 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on SMF to BUR than on its routes of similar length: 85.2% on time here, 80.4% there, 4.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.8 points.
SMF to BUR against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 80.9% | routes of similar length | 71.2% | +9.7 pts | 424 here, 92,304 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +6.3 pts | 1,353 here, 213,870 there |
| Month: July | 85.6% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | +13.8 pts | 902 here, 155,641 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 80.4% | +4.8 pts | 8,218 here, 487,823 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 358 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 SMF → BUR flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SMF → BUR cancelled 123 of 8,486 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 69. The reason filed most often was the airline, 63.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 109 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 123 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
78 cancellations, 63.4% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
41 cancellations, 33.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
4 cancellations, 3.3% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
123 coded cancellations were recorded on SMF → BUR; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
26 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 8,486 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BUR after arriving from SMF.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.2% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.2% | 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 1.45% of the time and diverts 0.33% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,335 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 26 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,486 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SMF → BUR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.9% of the time, against 72.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.7% on time from 846 flights
- 7 AM: 95.2% on time from 526 flights
- 8 AM: 93.4% on time from 593 flights
- 9 AM: 95.0% on time from 569 flights
- 10 AM: 92.1% on time from 490 flights
- 11 AM: 89.7% on time from 617 flights
- 12 PM: 87.1% on time from 453 flights
- 1 PM: 84.1% on time from 567 flights
- 2 PM: 81.1% on time from 460 flights
- 3 PM: 83.4% on time from 491 flights
- 4 PM: 78.5% on time from 598 flights
- 5 PM: 80.9% on time from 428 flights
- 6 PM: 73.6% on time from 726 flights
- 7 PM: 75.1% on time from 454 flights
- 8 PM: 69.9% on time from 668 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SMF → 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 SMF → BUR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SMF → BUR, at 66.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 94.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 72.6%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 8,367 | 85.2% | 1.45% | -8 min | 4.3% |
Other ways to fly Sacramento to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF→LAX Sacramento to Los Angeles | 16,602 | 86.8% | 0.27% | -9 min | 86 |
| SMF→BUR this route Sacramento to Burbank | 8,486 | 85.0% | 1.45% | -8 min | 79 |
SMF → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.8% on time, against 85.0% for SMF → BUR.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 87.8%
- Feb: 89.0%
- Mar: 86.7%
- Apr: 85.2%
- May: 81.6%
- Jun: 85.5%
- Jul: 85.6%
- Aug: 86.1%
- Sep: 84.5%
- Oct: 83.5%
- Nov: 85.2%
- Dec: 81.0%
December is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 8.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.8% from 250 flights
- August 2023: 83.8% from 257 flights
- September 2023: 87.1% from 251 flights
- October 2023: 87.7% from 239 flights
- November 2023: 88.7% from 248 flights
- December 2023: 87.3% from 260 flights
- January 2024: 89.2% from 224 flights
- February 2024: 90.7% from 198 flights
- March 2024: 87.9% from 221 flights
- April 2024: 83.5% from 216 flights
- May 2024: 82.2% from 220 flights
- June 2024: 80.4% from 227 flights
- July 2024: 83.2% from 231 flights
- August 2024: 87.0% from 227 flights
- September 2024: 81.2% from 270 flights
- October 2024: 82.4% from 287 flights
- November 2024: 85.9% from 234 flights
- December 2024: 73.6% from 216 flights
- January 2025: 86.2% from 195 flights
- February 2025: 85.6% from 198 flights
- March 2025: 87.0% from 245 flights
- April 2025: 82.7% from 244 flights
- May 2025: 82.7% from 248 flights
- June 2025: 87.0% from 236 flights
- July 2025: 88.4% from 238 flights
- August 2025: 87.6% from 231 flights
- September 2025: 85.5% from 228 flights
- October 2025: 80.6% from 242 flights
- November 2025: 80.8% from 235 flights
- December 2025: 80.6% from 228 flights
- January 2026: 87.6% from 188 flights
- February 2026: 90.9% from 182 flights
- March 2026: 85.2% from 223 flights
- April 2026: 89.5% from 223 flights
- May 2026: 79.9% from 225 flights
- June 2026: 89.4% from 201 flights
- July 2026: 89.8% from 200 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.4% against 84.1% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,486 SMF → 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