Route profile
MCI→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Salt Lake City, 920 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 92% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,041 flights. How this is calculated
MCI → SLC arrives on time 88.5% of the time; the return trip, SLC → MCI, arrives on time 84.2% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCI → SLC spends 22.2 minutes on the ground on a 920-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
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.
92.4% on time in its best month (May) against 84.5% in its worst (February).
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 SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 85.7% arrive on time, 17.8 points ahead of the 67.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.2 points.
MCI to SLC holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 90.0% on time to their 75.9%, a 14.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.8 points.
July is kinder to MCI to SLC than to routes of similar length: 87.4% on time against 68.5%, 18.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 17.7 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MCI to SLC than on its routes of similar length: 88.5% on time here, 81.5% there, 7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
MCI to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 85.7% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | +17.8 pts | 733 here, 181,596 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 90.0% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +14.1 pts | 451 here, 421,990 there |
| Month: July | 87.4% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | +18.9 pts | 348 here, 313,863 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 88.5% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +7.0 pts | 3,004 here, 360,065 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 920 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
18 min late
against a median of 13 min early
Percentiles over 3,041 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 21% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.7% | 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 0.16% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,007 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 18 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,041 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.6% of the time, against 83.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 9.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.3% on time from 373 flights
- 6 AM: 92.7% on time from 418 flights
- 7 AM: 88.9% on time from 266 flights
- 8 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 86.9% on time from 879 flights
- 3 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 83.1% on time from 131 flights
- 6 PM: 85.7% on time from 739 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCI → 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MCI → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCI → SLC, at 50.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 83.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,038 | 88.5% | 0.95% | -13 min | 4.1% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 4.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.1%
- Feb: 84.5%
- Mar: 89.3%
- Apr: 90.2%
- May: 92.4%
- Jun: 89.1%
- Jul: 87.4%
- Aug: 89.0%
- Sep: 90.7%
- Oct: 91.2%
- Nov: 85.4%
- Dec: 86.2%
February is historically the weakest month and May the strongest, a spread of 7.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.2% against 88.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,041 MCI → 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