Route profile
DEN→CHS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Charleston, 1,449 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 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,126 flights. How this is calculated
DEN → CHS arrives on time 76.1% of the time; the return trip, CHS → DEN, arrives on time 75.4% of the time.
DEN → CHS spends 26.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,449-mile trip: 19.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at CHS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to CHS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to CHS struggles most at 10 AM: 70.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.2 points behind the 80.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.2 points.
Saturday is the day DEN to CHS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 73.4% on time where they average 78.6%, 5.2 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
In October, DEN to CHS runs 6.3 points below routes of similar length, 76.6% on time to 82.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to CHS arrive on time 71.4% of the time, 4.5 points below the 75.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
DEN to CHS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 70.5% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | −10.2 pts | 210 here, 85,264 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 73.4% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | −5.2 pts | 290 here, 204,587 there |
| Month: October | 76.6% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | −6.3 pts | 167 here, 131,733 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 71.4% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | −4.5 pts | 921 here, 348,472 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 1,449 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
39 min late
against a median of 0 min early
Percentiles over 2,126 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CHS after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 49% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 0.61% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,108 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,126 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → CHS flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 80.7% of the time, against 69.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 11.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 83.0% on time from 948 flights
- 10 AM: 70.5% on time from 211 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 67.9% on time from 244 flights
- 3 PM: 67.8% on time from 200 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 67.3% on time from 215 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DEN → CHS 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 DEN → CHS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → CHS, at 39.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 80.7% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 69.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 1,196 | 79.8% | 0.59% | -2 min | 5.0% |
| Southwest Airlines | 930 | 71.4% | 0.65% | 3 min | 6.3% |
United Airlines flew 56.3% of the 2,126 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 8.4 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1003 United Airlines | 9:45 AM | 710 | 82.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 5.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.6%
- Feb: 78.1%
- Mar: 82.2%
- Apr: 79.0%
- May: 76.2%
- Jun: 72.9%
- Jul: 64.0%
- Aug: 73.8%
- Sep: 83.4%
- Oct: 76.6%
- Nov: 81.4%
- Dec: 73.2%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 19.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.0% against 76.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,126 DEN → CHS 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