Route profile
DEN→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Salt Lake City, 391 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 58% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 24,329 flights. How this is calculated
DEN → SLC arrives on time 77.3% of the time; the return trip, SLC → DEN, arrives on time 77.7% of the time.
DEN → SLC spends 24.8 minutes on the ground on a 391-mile trip: 18.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
Why DEN → SLC flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → SLC cancelled 137 of 24,329 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 178. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 50.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 353 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 137 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.
69 cancellations, 50.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
51 cancellations, 37.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
17 cancellations, 12.4% 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.
137 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → SLC; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 24,329 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.1% | 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 0.56% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 24,170 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 24,329 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 65.0% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 24.8 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DEN).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.9 points.
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 50–59
- 60–69
- 70–79
- 80–89
- 90–99
- Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.
No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 5 AM and after 11 PM (117 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 AM–6 AM | 90.3% on time187 flights | 93.2% on time161 flights | 94.7% on time152 flights | 92.4% on time184 flights | 91.6% on time193 flights | 87.1% on time171 flights | 112 flights, too few to score |
| 6 AM–7 AM | 93.0% on time143 flights | 72 flights, too few to score | 66 flights, too few to score | 115 flights, too few to score | 93.7% on time143 flights | 74 flights, too few to score | 91.5% on time142 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 86.7% on time150 flights | 119 flights, too few to score | 89.8% on time127 flights | 92.3% on time156 flights | 88.8% on time152 flights | 88.3% on time171 flights | 88.7% on time150 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 84.7% on time385 flights | 90.6% on time362 flights | 90.2% on time368 flights | 88.5% on time382 flights | 89.4% on time386 flights | 86.3% on time270 flights | 87.0% on time362 flights |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 95 flights, too few to score | 82 flights, too few to score | 79 flights, too few to score | 96 flights, too few to score | 88 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score | 91 flights, too few to score |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 98 flights, too few to score | 90.7% on time151 flights | 90.4% on time136 flights | 115 flights, too few to score | 112 flights, too few to score | 83 flights, too few to score | 111 flights, too few to score |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 77.1% on time300 flights | 81.5% on time288 flights | 79.3% on time296 flights | 74.7% on time298 flights | 72.1% on time285 flights | 78.4% on time269 flights | 78.4% on time235 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 82.4% on time205 flights | 82.3% on time221 flights | 84.7% on time212 flights | 86.9% on time215 flights | 78.2% on time207 flights | 77.0% on time174 flights | 80.8% on time216 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 79.0% on time235 flights | 85.3% on time251 flights | 81.0% on time252 flights | 81.8% on time232 flights | 75.4% on time242 flights | 82.8% on time205 flights | 83.8% on time216 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 69.9% on time174 flights | 69.5% on time128 flights | 85.3% on time132 flights | 72.7% on time140 flights | 68.8% on time161 flights | 112 flights, too few to score | 70.3% on time148 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 78.1% on time325 flights | 78.5% on time290 flights | 78.8% on time294 flights | 77.8% on time329 flights | 78.7% on time330 flights | 78.8% on time239 flights | 78.6% on time297 flights |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 65.0% on time144 flights | 118 flights, too few to score | 74.6% on time121 flights | 69.5% on time132 flights | 64.2% on time134 flights | 113 flights, too few to score | 118 flights, too few to score |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 68.0% on time200 flights | 73.1% on time250 flights | 72.0% on time257 flights | 74.8% on time225 flights | 62.5% on time201 flights | 66.3% on time207 flights | 67.4% on time220 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 64.8% on time217 flights | 75.6% on time207 flights | 71.2% on time215 flights | 67.3% on time214 flights | 68.2% on time224 flights | 73.9% on time178 flights | 63.4% on time204 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 64.2% on time248 flights | 65.9% on time235 flights | 66.4% on time251 flights | 68.2% on time238 flights | 64.5% on time247 flights | 67.0% on time219 flights | 60.8% on time250 flights |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 73.0% on time224 flights | 75.8% on time223 flights | 74.4% on time247 flights | 66.2% on time223 flights | 63.8% on time224 flights | 75.6% on time172 flights | 65.1% on time187 flights |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 72.5% on time152 flights | 69.3% on time153 flights | 58.3% on time151 flights | 66.9% on time142 flights | 68.9% on time136 flights | 64.5% on time124 flights | 63.6% on time141 flights |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 66.1% on time190 flights | 101 flights, too few to score | 99 flights, too few to score | 60.2% on time181 flights | 57.1% on time206 flights | 103 flights, too few to score | 56.1% on time231 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.2% on time from 1,160 flights
- 6 AM: 93.8% on time from 755 flights
- 7 AM: 89.3% on time from 1,025 flights
- 8 AM: 88.1% on time from 2,515 flights
- 9 AM: 82.8% on time from 601 flights
- 10 AM: 84.6% on time from 806 flights
- 11 AM: 77.3% on time from 1,971 flights
- 12 PM: 81.9% on time from 1,450 flights
- 1 PM: 81.3% on time from 1,633 flights
- 2 PM: 73.8% on time from 995 flights
- 3 PM: 78.5% on time from 2,104 flights
- 4 PM: 69.2% on time from 880 flights
- 5 PM: 69.4% on time from 1,560 flights
- 6 PM: 69.1% on time from 1,459 flights
- 7 PM: 65.2% on time from 1,688 flights
- 8 PM: 70.6% on time from 1,500 flights
- 9 PM: 66.3% on time from 999 flights
- 10 PM: 62.7% on time from 1,111 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DEN → SLC 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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → SLC, at 46.7%: 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 9 PM–5 AM departures 65.0%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 4.0 times the normal rate at DEN against barely any change at SLC. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DEN 2.8% against 0.7%, SLC 0.6% against 0.6%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | DEN | SLC |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 2.8% | 0.6% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 51.5% | 71.0% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 78.8% | 84.8% |
| Departures in bad weather | 92,610 | 20,014 |
Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (1.5% cancelled against 3.5% for the other carriers at DEN) cancelled the fewest departures from DEN in bad weather and SkyWest Airlines (5.8% cancelled against 1.8% for the other carriers at DEN) the most.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at DEN
All departures from DEN| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 30,853 | 1.5%below the others | 3.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,460 | 1.1%below the others | 2.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 28,467 | 2.4%below the others | 3.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 6,740 | 3.1%about level | 2.8% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 19,275 | 5.8%above the others | 1.8% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DEN and SLC, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DEN on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: DEN (airlines), SLC, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
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 | 7,907 | 72.6% | 0.58% | -1 min | 7.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 5,131 | 84.1% | 0.39% | -12 min | 6.1% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 4,242 | 77.2% | 0.71% | -7 min | 9.3% |
| United Airlines | 4,039 | 79.1% | 0.50% | -6 min | 6.4% |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,010 | 75.9% | 0.70% | -6 min | 8.3% |
Southwest Airlines flew 32.5% of the 24,329 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 11.5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OO5762 SkyWest Airlines | 5:30 PM | 1,033 | 71.2% |
| DL2544 Delta Air Lines | 5:30 AM | 944 | 90.7% |
| DL2663 Delta Air Lines | 6:23 PM | 863 | 71.7% |
| F94251 Frontier Airlines | 10:29 PM | 696 | 71.2% |
| DL1581 Delta Air Lines | 7:05 AM | 686 | 90.7% |
| UA1963 United Airlines | 11:45 AM | 642 | 78.0% |
| F93981 Frontier Airlines | 8:23 AM | 600 | 77.7% |
DL2544 (5:30 AM) arrived on time 90.7% of the time, 19.5 points more often than OO5762 (5:30 PM) at 71.2%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.6%
- Feb: 78.3%
- Mar: 81.2%
- Apr: 79.5%
- May: 75.9%
- Jun: 68.5%
- Jul: 67.5%
- Aug: 73.5%
- Sep: 83.3%
- Oct: 82.6%
- Nov: 84.2%
- Dec: 80.1%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.5% from 658 flights
- August 2023: 75.5% from 680 flights
- September 2023: 81.4% from 635 flights
- October 2023: 80.4% from 674 flights
- November 2023: 87.8% from 630 flights
- December 2023: 84.8% from 651 flights
- January 2024: 74.4% from 664 flights
- February 2024: 77.1% from 637 flights
- March 2024: 78.7% from 725 flights
- April 2024: 77.9% from 707 flights
- May 2024: 73.1% from 726 flights
- June 2024: 71.5% from 689 flights
- July 2024: 71.0% from 703 flights
- August 2024: 71.4% from 695 flights
- September 2024: 86.4% from 648 flights
- October 2024: 85.6% from 661 flights
- November 2024: 81.0% from 602 flights
- December 2024: 83.3% from 646 flights
- January 2025: 75.1% from 648 flights
- February 2025: 73.8% from 614 flights
- March 2025: 84.6% from 673 flights
- April 2025: 79.0% from 634 flights
- May 2025: 73.4% from 645 flights
- June 2025: 65.3% from 664 flights
- July 2025: 59.3% from 687 flights
- August 2025: 73.5% from 669 flights
- September 2025: 82.1% from 644 flights
- October 2025: 81.8% from 663 flights
- November 2025: 83.7% from 588 flights
- December 2025: 72.0% from 628 flights
- January 2026: 83.6% from 634 flights
- February 2026: 84.1% from 616 flights
- March 2026: 80.5% from 668 flights
- April 2026: 81.8% from 639 flights
- May 2026: 81.2% from 665 flights
- June 2026: 68.8% from 657 flights
- July 2026: 73.1% from 662 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.8% against 76.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 24,329 DEN → SLC 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