Route profile
TUS→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tucson to Los Angeles, 451 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 7,911 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TUS → LAX arrives on time 85.3% of the time; the return trip, LAX → TUS, arrives on time 81.3% of the time, a 4.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TUS → LAX spends 28.3 minutes on the ground on a 451-mile trip: 17.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TUS and 10.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 95% of 5,368 comparable routes.
86.4% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 86.7% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where TUS to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TUS to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 79.5% arrive on time, 9.6 points ahead of the 69.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
TUS to LAX holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.3% on time to their 77.1%, a 9.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
July is kinder to TUS to LAX than to routes of similar length: 83.4% on time against 69.7%, 13.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
In February, TUS to LAX runs 4.6 points below routes of similar length, 77.2% on time to 81.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on TUS to LAX than on its routes of similar length: 86.5% on time here, 78.3% there, 8.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
TUS to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 79.5% | routes of similar length | 69.9% | +9.6 pts | 1,222 here, 112,968 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 86.3% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | +9.2 pts | 1,155 here, 237,565 there |
| Month: July | 83.4% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +13.7 pts | 787 here, 174,578 there |
| Month: February | 77.2% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | −4.6 pts | 604 here, 110,569 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 86.5% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | +8.2 pts | 6,494 here, 101,732 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 451 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 9 min early
Percentiles over 7,911 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from TUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 9.2% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.4% | 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 0.21% of the time and diverts 0.05% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,890 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 7,911 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TUS → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.0% of the time, against 76.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 13.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.2% on time from 396 flights
- 7 AM: 90.3% on time from 1,567 flights
- 8 AM: 85.6% on time from 487 flights
- 9 AM: 92.1% on time from 177 flights
- 10 AM: 85.4% on time from 281 flights
- 11 AM: 89.4% on time from 756 flights
- 12 PM: 88.1% on time from 1,189 flights
- 1 PM: 85.5% on time from 278 flights
- 2 PM: 84.7% on time from 124 flights
- 3 PM: 77.0% on time from 126 flights
- 4 PM: 76.2% on time from 517 flights
- 5 PM: 79.5% on time from 1,225 flights
- 6 PM: 77.3% on time from 419 flights
- 7 PM: 76.4% on time from 307 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TUS → LAX 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
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for TUS → LAX. 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 | 6,510 | 86.5% | 0.18% | -10 min | 5.4% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,401 | 79.7% | 0.36% | -4 min | 5.3% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 82.3% of the 7,911 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 6.8 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.3%
- Feb: 77.2%
- Mar: 86.6%
- Apr: 89.7%
- May: 82.3%
- Jun: 85.7%
- Jul: 83.4%
- Aug: 83.2%
- Sep: 91.0%
- Oct: 84.8%
- Nov: 89.4%
- Dec: 84.7%
February is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 13.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 86.4% from 184 flights
- August 2023: 85.1% from 201 flights
- September 2023: 90.6% from 224 flights
- October 2023: 86.0% from 235 flights
- November 2023: 90.9% from 209 flights
- December 2023: 88.7% from 195 flights
- January 2024: 78.1% from 196 flights
- February 2024: 69.6% from 195 flights
- March 2024: 83.8% from 216 flights
- April 2024: 85.7% from 210 flights
- May 2024: 74.1% from 217 flights
- June 2024: 80.4% from 179 flights
- July 2024: 74.0% from 177 flights
- August 2024: 80.2% from 207 flights
- September 2024: 95.1% from 205 flights
- October 2024: 83.8% from 216 flights
- November 2024: 89.9% from 228 flights
- December 2024: 79.6% from 240 flights
- January 2025: 89.8% from 227 flights
- February 2025: 82.2% from 216 flights
- March 2025: 87.5% from 249 flights
- April 2025: 92.3% from 236 flights
- May 2025: 89.7% from 242 flights
- June 2025: 86.5% from 209 flights
- July 2025: 82.8% from 209 flights
- August 2025: 84.5% from 206 flights
- September 2025: 87.2% from 196 flights
- October 2025: 84.4% from 212 flights
- November 2025: 87.4% from 222 flights
- December 2025: 86.6% from 225 flights
- January 2026: 87.2% from 203 flights
- February 2026: 79.1% from 196 flights
- March 2026: 88.2% from 229 flights
- April 2026: 90.7% from 226 flights
- May 2026: 82.4% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 89.2% from 223 flights
- July 2026: 88.9% from 217 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.4% against 86.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,911 TUS → LAX 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