Route profile
DEN→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Charlotte, 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 53% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,070 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → CLT arrives on time 78.5% of the time; the return trip, CLT → DEN, arrives on time 73.5% of the time, a 5.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → CLT spends 32.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,337-mile trip: 19.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 12.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to CLT struggles most at 5 AM: 76.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.2 points behind the 92.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
Saturday is the day DEN to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.1% on time where they average 78.7%, 4.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
January is kinder to DEN to CLT than to routes of similar length: 83.5% on time against 78.7%, 4.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
American Airlines does better on DEN to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 80.9% on time here, 75.1% there, 5.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
United Airlines’ flights on DEN to CLT arrive on time 76.1% of the time, 5.1 points below the 81.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.8 points.
DEN to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 AM departures | 76.0% | routes of similar length | 92.2% | −16.2 pts | 175 here, 52,357 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 74.1% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | −4.6 pts | 1,174 here, 217,218 there |
| Month: January | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +4.8 pts | 691 here, 123,734 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 80.9% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | +5.8 pts | 5,314 here, 347,537 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 76.1% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | −5.1 pts | 2,122 here, 302,154 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 DEN → CLT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → CLT cancelled 86 of 9,070 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 105. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 72.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 146 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 86 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.
62 cancellations, 72.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 26.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.2% 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.
86 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → CLT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
43 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,070 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.21% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,965 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,070 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.3% of the time, against 66.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 76.0% on time from 180 flights
- 6 AM: 89.1% on time from 746 flights
- 7 AM: 88.4% on time from 523 flights
- 8 AM: 80.3% on time from 553 flights
- 9 AM: 82.1% on time from 1,211 flights
- 10 AM: 82.7% on time from 1,010 flights
- 11 AM: 82.7% on time from 376 flights
- 12 PM: 79.2% on time from 160 flights
- 1 PM: 75.6% on time from 616 flights
- 2 PM: 72.8% on time from 195 flights
- 3 PM: 63.9% on time from 467 flights
- 4 PM: 70.9% on time from 631 flights
- 5 PM: 69.6% on time from 1,200 flights
- 6 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 82.0% on time from 998 flights
Why DEN → CLT 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 → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → CLT, at 46.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.3% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.0%.
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 | 5,382 | 80.9% | 1.08% | -11 min | 6.6% |
| United Airlines | 2,136 | 76.1% | 0.37% | -2 min | 7.6% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,026 | 75.7% | 1.36% | -4 min | 7.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 493 | 67.3% | 1.22% | 4 min | 7.8% |
American Airlines flew 59.6% of the 9,037 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 13.6 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.
AA573 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 88.1% of the time, 18.9 points more often than UA616 (5:40 PM) at 69.2%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.5%
- Feb: 82.0%
- Mar: 79.2%
- Apr: 81.5%
- May: 76.1%
- Jun: 70.2%
- Jul: 66.1%
- Aug: 73.6%
- Sep: 81.8%
- Oct: 83.3%
- Nov: 86.4%
- Dec: 82.7%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.6% from 271 flights
- August 2023: 70.1% from 276 flights
- September 2023: 77.1% from 272 flights
- October 2023: 81.3% from 300 flights
- November 2023: 85.4% from 254 flights
- December 2023: 82.6% from 247 flights
- January 2024: 82.4% from 240 flights
- February 2024: 79.5% from 219 flights
- March 2024: 76.8% from 237 flights
- April 2024: 81.8% from 232 flights
- May 2024: 71.3% from 249 flights
- June 2024: 70.0% from 248 flights
- July 2024: 66.4% from 252 flights
- August 2024: 75.7% from 254 flights
- September 2024: 82.9% from 250 flights
- October 2024: 82.2% from 255 flights
- November 2024: 81.8% from 226 flights
- December 2024: 84.1% from 252 flights
- January 2025: 82.2% from 247 flights
- February 2025: 79.0% from 225 flights
- March 2025: 79.0% from 264 flights
- April 2025: 70.6% from 256 flights
- May 2025: 77.0% from 254 flights
- June 2025: 65.3% from 249 flights
- July 2025: 64.0% from 254 flights
- August 2025: 75.3% from 237 flights
- September 2025: 86.1% from 231 flights
- October 2025: 86.7% from 249 flights
- November 2025: 92.0% from 226 flights
- December 2025: 81.4% from 238 flights
- January 2026: 86.3% from 231 flights
- February 2026: 87.9% from 219 flights
- March 2026: 81.8% from 233 flights
- April 2026: 93.1% from 232 flights
- May 2026: 80.3% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 75.7% from 229 flights
- July 2026: 68.4% from 228 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.9% against 76.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 6.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,070 DEN → CLT 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