Denver International Airport (DEN) delays & on-time performance
Denver, Colorado · 193 nonstop destinations · 10 airlines · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
No FAA-reported ground stops or delays at DEN right now. Individual flights can still be delayed by the airline; check with your airline for your flight.
On-time arrivals
77%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
0.7%
2,332 flights
Avg arrival delay
16 min
64 min when late
Departed on time
76%
avg taxi-out 20 min
Figures cover 319,208 departures from DEN; on-time is measured at arrival. Arrivals into DEN were on time 79% of the time.
Key facts
- Flights departing Denver International Airport (DEN) arrived on time 77% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, worse than the 78% national average.
- 0.7% were cancelled, and 8% arrived an hour or more late.
- Delta Air Lines was the most punctual airline here (84% on time); Southwest Airlines was the least (70%).
- Departures scheduled around 6am did best (92% on time); around 6pm did worst (64%).
- The largest source of delay minutes was late-arriving aircraft (43%).
Most delayed routes from DEN
Lowest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- SFO · San Francisco65%5,465 flts
- OAK · Oakland66%1,605 flts
- PIA · Peoria67%432 flts
- BUF · Buffalo68%587 flts
- ATW · Appleton70%411 flts
- ORF · Norfolk70%636 flts
- MLI · Moline70%366 flts
- DAL · Dallas71%2,983 flts
- BOS · Boston71%3,872 flts
- RIC · Richmond71%791 flts
Most reliable routes from DEN
Highest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- AVL · Asheville86%427 flts
- GSP · Greer86%366 flts
- JMS · Jamestown86%627 flts
- DVL · Devils Lake86%627 flts
- OGG · Kahului85%385 flts
- ATY · Watertown85%363 flts
- KOA · Kona84%370 flts
- LIH · Lihue84%379 flts
- SUX · Sioux City84%518 flts
- PRC · Prescott83%608 flts
Best airline at DEN
Departures from this airport, ranked by on-time arrival.
| Airline | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Routes | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 84% | 1.3% | 13 min | 9 | 11,542 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 80% | 1.0% | 16 min | 127 | 75,286 |
| United Airlines | 79% | 0.4% | 14 min | 121 | 107,510 |
| Frontier Airlines | 79% | 0.7% | 15 min | 69 | 22,770 |
| Alaska Airlines | 78% | 0.7% | 13 min | 4 | 2,786 |
| American Airlines | 77% | 2.0% | 25 min | 6 | 8,903 |
| Allegiant Air | 75% | 0.5% | 23 min | 9 | 384 |
| Envoy Air | 75% | 0.6% | 22 min | 3 | 324 |
| Southwest Airlines | 70% | 0.6% | 17 min | 90 | 88,450 |
| JetBlue | 69% | 3.9% | 30 min | 3 | 1,253 |
Best time to fly out of DEN
On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour (local time).
- 5am94%3,718 flts
- 6am92%8,679 flts
- 7am89%17,264 flts
- 8am89%18,215 flts
- 9am84%23,592 flts
- 10am82%20,849 flts
- 11am80%31,205 flts
- 12pm79%12,610 flts
- 1pm81%29,049 flts
- 2pm74%11,927 flts
- 3pm74%17,258 flts
- 4pm71%15,056 flts
- 5pm69%30,749 flts
- 6pm64%11,710 flts
- 7pm66%27,949 flts
- 8pm67%20,278 flts
- 9pm69%10,147 flts
- 10pm67%3,492 flts
- 11pm82%4,577 flts
Monthly trend
Why departures were late
- Late-arriving aircraft43%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)33%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion20%
- Extreme weather4%
- Security0%
Data: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 (12 months). Latest month published by BTS: July 2026. How we calculate this.