Route profile
DEN→MKE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Milwaukee, 896 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 7,969 flights. How this is calculated
DEN → MKE arrives on time 75.1% of the time; the return trip, MKE → DEN, arrives on time 81.8% of the time, a 6.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → MKE spends 24.1 minutes on the ground on an 896-mile trip: 18.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at MKE.
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 92% of 4,467 comparable routes.
77.8% on time on the best day (Saturday) against 73.2% on the worst (Friday).
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 MKE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to MKE struggles most at 7 PM: 51.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 15.4 points behind the 67.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16 points.
DEN to MKE is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 81.3% arrive on time, 4.4 points ahead of the 76.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
Tuesday is the day DEN to MKE slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.2% on time where they average 81.1%, 4.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
In June, DEN to MKE runs 7.2 points below routes of similar length, 64.4% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
SkyWest Airlines’ flights on DEN to MKE arrive on time 76.8% of the time, 6.7 points below the 83.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
DEN to MKE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 51.8% | routes of similar length | 67.2% | −15.4 pts | 425 here, 174,880 there |
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 81.3% | routes of similar length | 76.9% | +4.4 pts | 883 here, 164,797 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 76.2% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | −4.9 pts | 1,061 here, 379,552 there |
| Month: June | 64.4% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −7.2 pts | 730 here, 228,656 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 76.8% | routes of similar length | 83.5% | −6.7 pts | 1,439 here, 61,334 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 896 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 → MKE flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → MKE cancelled 63 of 7,969 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 126. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 73.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 173 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 63 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.
46 cancellations, 73.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
12 cancellations, 19.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 7.9% 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.
63 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → MKE; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
51 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 7,969 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MKE after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.8% | 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 0.79% 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 7,893 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,969 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → MKE flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 63.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.5% on time from 216 flights
- 6 AM: 87.6% on time from 147 flights
- 7 AM: 89.3% on time from 244 flights
- 8 AM: 89.5% on time from 376 flights
- 9 AM: 86.8% on time from 474 flights
- 10 AM: 82.3% on time from 995 flights
- 11 AM: 81.3% on time from 400 flights
- 12 PM: 81.1% on time from 182 flights
- 1 PM: 81.3% on time from 888 flights
- 2 PM: 72.8% on time from 257 flights
- 3 PM: 70.5% on time from 327 flights
- 4 PM: 66.5% on time from 195 flights
- 5 PM: 68.6% on time from 1,136 flights
- 6 PM: 64.5% on time from 509 flights
- 7 PM: 51.8% on time from 430 flights
- 8 PM: 67.7% on time from 914 flights
- 9 PM: 66.5% on time from 206 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DEN → MKE 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 → MKE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → MKE, at 47.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 63.1%.
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 | 4,120 | 72.9% | 0.85% | -1 min | 8.5% |
| United Airlines | 1,966 | 77.6% | 0.36% | -4 min | 7.5% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,458 | 76.8% | 0.96% | -5 min | 9.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 425 | 78.9% | 1.65% | -8 min | 8.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 51.7% of the 7,969 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.65% of its flights here against 0.36% for United Airlines.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 6.0 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1836 United Airlines | 10:02 AM | 673 | 84.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 4.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 75.8%
- Mar: 74.4%
- Apr: 76.5%
- May: 71.0%
- Jun: 64.4%
- Jul: 68.7%
- Aug: 68.3%
- Sep: 83.8%
- Oct: 84.0%
- Nov: 82.6%
- Dec: 79.2%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.9% from 261 flights
- August 2023: 72.1% from 275 flights
- September 2023: 87.4% from 264 flights
- October 2023: 78.6% from 281 flights
- November 2023: 85.1% from 248 flights
- December 2023: 80.3% from 250 flights
- January 2024: 75.9% from 217 flights
- February 2024: 70.9% from 196 flights
- March 2024: 75.1% from 227 flights
- April 2024: 75.8% from 216 flights
- May 2024: 67.5% from 230 flights
- June 2024: 70.0% from 268 flights
- July 2024: 76.5% from 283 flights
- August 2024: 70.3% from 250 flights
- September 2024: 83.5% from 236 flights
- October 2024: 87.2% from 235 flights
- November 2024: 78.7% from 200 flights
- December 2024: 80.3% from 173 flights
- January 2025: 75.0% from 159 flights
- February 2025: 79.7% from 145 flights
- March 2025: 73.1% from 172 flights
- April 2025: 72.5% from 161 flights
- May 2025: 67.8% from 203 flights
- June 2025: 53.7% from 232 flights
- July 2025: 60.7% from 268 flights
- August 2025: 62.0% from 239 flights
- September 2025: 80.0% from 225 flights
- October 2025: 87.1% from 232 flights
- November 2025: 83.5% from 171 flights
- December 2025: 76.2% from 168 flights
- January 2026: 84.5% from 155 flights
- February 2026: 78.7% from 136 flights
- March 2026: 74.7% from 159 flights
- April 2026: 81.6% from 160 flights
- May 2026: 78.4% from 190 flights
- June 2026: 68.5% from 236 flights
- July 2026: 71.3% from 248 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 73.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,969 DEN → MKE 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