Route profile
MCI→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Phoenix, 1,044 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 71% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,814 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCI → PHX arrives on time 81.5% of the time; the return trip, PHX → MCI, arrives on time 79.7% of the time.
MCI → PHX spends 20.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,044-mile trip: 13.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 6.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
84.6% on time in its best month (September) against 76.3% in its worst (June).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCI to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 87.0% arrive on time, 11.5 points ahead of the 75.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
MCI to PHX holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.5% on time to their 77.0%, a 7.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
August is kinder to MCI to PHX than to routes of similar length: 84.4% on time against 74.0%, 10.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.9 points.
American Airlines does better on MCI to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 85.1% on time here, 73.9% there, 11.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
MCI to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 87.0% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | +11.5 pts | 239 here, 165,601 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.5% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +7.5 pts | 967 here, 386,171 there |
| Month: August | 84.4% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | +10.4 pts | 559 here, 230,165 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +11.2 pts | 2,013 here, 571,510 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 1,044 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 MCI → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MCI → PHX cancelled 57 of 7,814 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 137. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 68.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 200 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 57 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.
39 cancellations, 68.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
16 cancellations, 28.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 3.5% 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.
57 coded cancellations were recorded on MCI → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
33 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 7,814 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.73% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,749 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 33 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,814 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.5% of the time, against 63.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 27.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 90.2% on time from 697 flights
- 6 AM: 92.9% on time from 895 flights
- 7 AM: 91.2% on time from 381 flights
- 8 AM: 83.9% on time from 321 flights
- 9 AM: 91.1% on time from 181 flights
- 10 AM: 86.9% on time from 424 flights
- 11 AM: 87.8% on time from 346 flights
- 12 PM: 84.0% on time from 246 flights
- 1 PM: 87.0% on time from 240 flights
- 2 PM: 82.2% on time from 1,263 flights
- 3 PM: 79.4% on time from 409 flights
- 4 PM: 74.2% on time from 234 flights
- 5 PM: 76.8% on time from 430 flights
- 6 PM: 70.7% on time from 670 flights
- 7 PM: 69.4% on time from 392 flights
- 8 PM: 60.7% on time from 264 flights
- 9 PM: 66.2% on time from 285 flights
- 10 PM: 56.5% on time from 135 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCI → PHX 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 MCI → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCI → PHX, at 48.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.5% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 63.2%.
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 | 5,109 | 79.9% | 0.69% | -4 min | 5.2% |
| American Airlines | 2,032 | 85.1% | 0.89% | -9 min | 6.4% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 304 | 78.4% | 0.99% | -4 min | 5.0% |
| Envoy Air | 230 | 87.8% | 0.43% | -10 min | 4.4% |
Southwest Airlines flew 66.6% of the 7,675 flights listed.
Envoy Air arrived on time 9.4 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 6.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.5%
- Feb: 82.0%
- Mar: 82.7%
- Apr: 80.6%
- May: 77.0%
- Jun: 76.3%
- Jul: 78.0%
- Aug: 84.4%
- Sep: 84.6%
- Oct: 83.6%
- Nov: 83.6%
- Dec: 84.3%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 8.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.8% from 205 flights
- August 2023: 82.2% from 193 flights
- September 2023: 81.7% from 164 flights
- October 2023: 79.3% from 208 flights
- November 2023: 87.5% from 240 flights
- December 2023: 88.9% from 235 flights
- January 2024: 76.6% from 222 flights
- February 2024: 82.1% from 218 flights
- March 2024: 82.5% from 281 flights
- April 2024: 81.4% from 242 flights
- May 2024: 72.3% from 238 flights
- June 2024: 76.4% from 200 flights
- July 2024: 79.9% from 201 flights
- August 2024: 87.1% from 194 flights
- September 2024: 88.5% from 183 flights
- October 2024: 92.4% from 210 flights
- November 2024: 89.9% from 217 flights
- December 2024: 89.1% from 238 flights
- January 2025: 89.1% from 207 flights
- February 2025: 86.9% from 198 flights
- March 2025: 80.9% from 248 flights
- April 2025: 80.0% from 226 flights
- May 2025: 81.0% from 211 flights
- June 2025: 73.7% from 180 flights
- July 2025: 77.0% from 181 flights
- August 2025: 83.9% from 175 flights
- September 2025: 83.1% from 163 flights
- October 2025: 78.8% from 198 flights
- November 2025: 73.3% from 222 flights
- December 2025: 74.8% from 236 flights
- January 2026: 79.7% from 222 flights
- February 2026: 77.2% from 202 flights
- March 2026: 84.4% from 272 flights
- April 2026: 80.2% from 213 flights
- May 2026: 78.3% from 204 flights
- June 2026: 78.6% from 183 flights
- July 2026: 76.0% from 184 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.0% against 84.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,814 MCI → PHX 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