MCI to DEN flight delays
Kansas City, MO (MCI) Denver, CO (DEN) · 533 miles
4,274 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
76.06%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.61%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
65 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
17 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 16.6 points more often than Southwest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In January it ran 23.5 points more punctual than in July — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
The Kansas City to Denver route sits close to the middle of the record — neither notably punctual nor notably late.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on MCI to DEN. Southwest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in January and worst in July.
Every airline on MCI to DEN
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,341 | 72.97% | 0.73% | 58 min | D |
| United Airlines | 1,298 | 77.78% | 0.54% | 61 min | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 374 | 89.54% | 0.27% | 104 min | A |
| Frontier Airlines | 261 | 75.77% | 0.38% | 119 min | C |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
DEN to MCI Denver back to Kansas City 75.51% on time COther routes from Kansas City
Common questions
Are flights from Kansas City to Denver usually delayed?
76.06% of flights on the MCI to DEN route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Kansas City to Denver?
SkyWest Airlines, at 89.54% on time across 374 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 72.97%.
How often are MCI to DEN flights cancelled?
0.61% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 6 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Kansas City to Denver?
January, when 85.3% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 61.8%.
When MCI to DEN flights are late, how late are they?
About 65 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on MCI to DEN during January 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →