Route profile
CLT→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Denver, 1,337 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 29% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,075 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → DEN arrives on time 73.5% of the time; the return trip, DEN → CLT, arrives on time 78.5% of the time, a 5.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → DEN spends 29.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,337-mile trip: 18.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 11.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
84.1% on time in a typical November, against 56.5% in July.
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 CLT to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to DEN struggles most at 6 AM: 70.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 20.8 points behind the 90.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.8 points.
CLT to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 85.8% arrive on time, 7.3 points ahead of the 78.5% those routes manage at that hour.
Tuesday is the day CLT to DEN slips furthest against routes of similar length, 73.4% on time where they average 80.9%, 7.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
In July, CLT to DEN runs 13.4 points below routes of similar length, 56.5% on time to 69.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
Frontier Airlines’ flights on CLT to DEN arrive on time 67.3% of the time, 4.8 points below the 72.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
CLT to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 70.0% | routes of similar length | 90.8% | −20.8 pts | 140 here, 127,787 there |
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 85.8% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | +7.3 pts | 141 here, 110,292 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 73.4% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | −7.5 pts | 1,188 here, 230,364 there |
| Month: July | 56.5% | routes of similar length | 69.9% | −13.4 pts | 971 here, 186,724 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 67.3% | routes of similar length | 72.1% | −4.8 pts | 999 here, 66,577 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 1,337 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 CLT → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CLT → DEN cancelled 96 of 9,075 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 95. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 65.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 144 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 96 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
63 cancellations, 65.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
33 cancellations, 34.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
96 coded cancellations were recorded on CLT → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
56 min late
against a median of 4 min early
CLT → DEN has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 4 min early, but the worst tenth are 60 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 9,075 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.4% | Some 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 1.06% of the time and diverts 0.36% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,946 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 56 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,075 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.7% of the time, against 60.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 70.0% on time from 144 flights
- 7 AM: 86.7% on time from 917 flights
- 8 AM: 89.0% on time from 1,257 flights
- 9 AM: 86.8% on time from 152 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 83.5% on time from 776 flights
- 12 PM: 85.8% on time from 143 flights
- 1 PM: 71.6% on time from 693 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 66.7% on time from 194 flights
- 4 PM: 72.1% on time from 1,346 flights
- 5 PM: 63.0% on time from 582 flights
- 6 PM: 57.5% on time from 744 flights
- 7 PM: 63.2% on time from 469 flights
- 8 PM: 61.7% on time from 463 flights
- 9 PM: 58.7% on time from 741 flights
- 10 PM: 67.3% on time from 162 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLT → DEN 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 CLT → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → DEN, at 41.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,386 | 71.6% | 0.89% | -2 min | 9.8% |
| United Airlines | 2,137 | 82.5% | 0.89% | -8 min | 6.3% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,025 | 67.3% | 2.44% | -3 min | 13.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 494 | 67.6% | 0.61% | 1 min | 11.1% |
American Airlines flew 59.6% of the 9,042 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.44% of its flights here against 0.61% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 15.2 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.2%
- Feb: 80.5%
- Mar: 78.7%
- Apr: 74.6%
- May: 64.9%
- Jun: 64.0%
- Jul: 56.5%
- Aug: 64.8%
- Sep: 80.3%
- Oct: 80.5%
- Nov: 84.1%
- Dec: 78.8%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 27.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 53.7% from 271 flights
- August 2023: 63.0% from 276 flights
- September 2023: 77.1% from 273 flights
- October 2023: 79.3% from 300 flights
- November 2023: 87.7% from 253 flights
- December 2023: 85.8% from 248 flights
- January 2024: 73.7% from 238 flights
- February 2024: 82.6% from 219 flights
- March 2024: 74.0% from 237 flights
- April 2024: 74.5% from 232 flights
- May 2024: 54.2% from 251 flights
- June 2024: 62.8% from 249 flights
- July 2024: 52.5% from 252 flights
- August 2024: 70.0% from 255 flights
- September 2024: 80.7% from 250 flights
- October 2024: 80.6% from 254 flights
- November 2024: 77.8% from 227 flights
- December 2024: 78.3% from 253 flights
- January 2025: 79.8% from 246 flights
- February 2025: 79.0% from 225 flights
- March 2025: 78.2% from 264 flights
- April 2025: 66.8% from 255 flights
- May 2025: 62.7% from 254 flights
- June 2025: 59.3% from 249 flights
- July 2025: 58.1% from 254 flights
- August 2025: 61.4% from 237 flights
- September 2025: 83.5% from 231 flights
- October 2025: 81.9% from 250 flights
- November 2025: 86.3% from 227 flights
- December 2025: 72.0% from 238 flights
- January 2026: 87.9% from 232 flights
- February 2026: 79.7% from 218 flights
- March 2026: 83.9% from 233 flights
- April 2026: 83.2% from 233 flights
- May 2026: 78.5% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 70.4% from 229 flights
- July 2026: 62.6% from 228 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.6% against 72.5% in the 12 months before — improving by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,075 CLT → DEN 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