Route profile
DEN→CMH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Columbus, 1,154 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,580 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → CMH arrives on time 73.2% of the time; the return trip, CMH → DEN, arrives on time 80.4% of the time, a 7.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → CMH spends 24.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,154-mile trip: 18.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 6.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at CMH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 99% of 4,467 comparable routes.
74.9% on time on the best day (Saturday) against 72.1% on the worst (Wednesday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to CMH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to CMH struggles most at 8 PM: 47.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.3 points behind the 65.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.5 points.
DEN to CMH is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 86.7% arrive on time, 3.5 points ahead of the 83.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.4 points.
Wednesday is the day DEN to CMH slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.1% on time where they average 79.5%, 7.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
In June, DEN to CMH runs 8.6 points below routes of similar length, 63.0% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to CMH arrive on time 67.1% of the time, 8.5 points below the 75.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
DEN to CMH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 47.9% | routes of similar length | 65.2% | −17.3 pts | 165 here, 110,569 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 83.2% | +3.5 pts | 1,101 here, 117,450 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 72.1% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | −7.4 pts | 745 here, 322,576 there |
| Month: June | 63.0% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −8.6 pts | 470 here, 188,506 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 67.1% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −8.5 pts | 2,997 here, 506,733 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 1,154 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
48 min late
against a median of 0 min early
Percentiles over 5,580 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CMH after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 0.52% of the time and diverts 0.16% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,542 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,580 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → CMH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.6% of the time, against 55.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 33.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.5% on time from 134 flights
- 7 AM: 82.1% on time from 134 flights
- 8 AM: 89.6% on time from 298 flights
- 9 AM: 86.7% on time from 1,108 flights
- 10 AM: 79.4% on time from 531 flights
- 11 AM: 77.4% on time from 159 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 73.3% on time from 148 flights
- 2 PM: 68.6% on time from 438 flights
- 3 PM: 62.8% on time from 219 flights
- 4 PM: 58.5% on time from 166 flights
- 5 PM: 69.6% on time from 1,159 flights
- 6 PM: 60.5% on time from 392 flights
- 7 PM: 52.8% on time from 413 flights
- 8 PM: 47.9% on time from 167 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DEN → CMH 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 → CMH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → CMH, at 51.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 55.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 3,015 | 67.1% | 0.50% | 4 min | 9.5% |
| United Airlines | 2,249 | 80.4% | 0.44% | -4 min | 6.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 316 | 81.1% | 1.27% | -7 min | 7.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 54.0% of the 5,580 flights listed.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 14.0 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Wednesday the least, a gap of 2.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.4%
- Feb: 75.4%
- Mar: 74.2%
- Apr: 77.2%
- May: 67.4%
- Jun: 63.0%
- Jul: 65.4%
- Aug: 70.0%
- Sep: 75.6%
- Oct: 81.8%
- Nov: 83.7%
- Dec: 76.9%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 64.1% from 161 flights
- August 2023: 69.7% from 165 flights
- September 2023: 72.6% from 165 flights
- October 2023: 76.6% from 171 flights
- November 2023: 84.6% from 162 flights
- December 2023: 75.1% from 169 flights
- January 2024: 65.3% from 150 flights
- February 2024: 69.6% from 137 flights
- March 2024: 71.1% from 152 flights
- April 2024: 81.6% from 163 flights
- May 2024: 73.4% from 173 flights
- June 2024: 70.3% from 158 flights
- July 2024: 70.7% from 164 flights
- August 2024: 73.9% from 154 flights
- September 2024: 82.6% from 144 flights
- October 2024: 85.8% from 148 flights
- November 2024: 81.3% from 142 flights
- December 2024: 83.0% from 141 flights
- January 2025: 68.5% from 130 flights
- February 2025: 74.2% from 120 flights
- March 2025: 80.3% from 137 flights
- April 2025: 75.7% from 140 flights
- May 2025: 63.3% from 148 flights
- June 2025: 55.5% from 155 flights
- July 2025: 56.5% from 162 flights
- August 2025: 66.4% from 148 flights
- September 2025: 71.9% from 146 flights
- October 2025: 83.6% from 166 flights
- November 2025: 85.0% from 142 flights
- December 2025: 73.0% from 141 flights
- January 2026: 84.8% from 131 flights
- February 2026: 82.9% from 126 flights
- March 2026: 71.5% from 147 flights
- April 2026: 73.8% from 149 flights
- May 2026: 64.5% from 152 flights
- June 2026: 63.1% from 157 flights
- July 2026: 69.9% from 164 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.0% against 73.1% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,580 DEN → CMH 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