Route profile
MSY→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to Denver, 1,062 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 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,076 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSY → DEN arrives on time 79.8% of the time; the return trip, DEN → MSY, arrives on time 75.6% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSY → DEN spends 21.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,062-mile trip: 12.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 9.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where MSY to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 81.5% arrive on time, 8.6 points ahead of the 72.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.9 points.
MSY to DEN struggles most at 1 PM: 67.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.1 points behind the 75.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
MSY to DEN holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 80.9% on time to their 75.9%, a 5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.7 points.
March is kinder to MSY to DEN than to routes of similar length: 84.0% on time against 75.3%, 8.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
In June, MSY to DEN runs 4.8 points below routes of similar length, 66.8% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
MSY to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 72.9% | +8.6 pts | 917 here, 176,780 there |
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 67.3% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | −8.1 pts | 202 here, 161,374 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 80.9% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +5.0 pts | 1,088 here, 424,409 there |
| Month: March | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | +8.7 pts | 689 here, 253,636 there |
| Month: June | 66.8% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −4.8 pts | 476 here, 230,664 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 1,062 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 MSY → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MSY → DEN cancelled 76 of 7,076 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 93. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 51.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 181 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 76 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, 51.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
34 cancellations, 44.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
3 cancellations, 3.9% 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.
76 coded cancellations were recorded on MSY → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,076 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.8% | 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 1.07% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,987 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,076 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 66.3% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 23.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.4% on time from 793 flights
- 6 AM: 93.4% on time from 183 flights
- 7 AM: 93.8% on time from 260 flights
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 1,058 flights
- 9 AM: 87.7% on time from 155 flights
- 10 AM: 86.9% on time from 682 flights
- 11 AM: 83.0% on time from 167 flights
- 12 PM: 86.6% on time from 123 flights
- 1 PM: 67.3% on time from 206 flights
- 2 PM: 81.5% on time from 935 flights
- 3 PM: 70.3% on time from 341 flights
- 4 PM: 71.1% on time from 302 flights
- 5 PM: 68.9% on time from 377 flights
- 6 PM: 68.5% on time from 784 flights
- 7 PM: 62.6% on time from 402 flights
- 8 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 59.7% on time from 125 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSY → DEN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 MSY → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → DEN, at 42.4%: 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 9 PM–5 AM departures 66.3%.
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 | 3,467 | 77.4% | 0.69% | -3 min | 6.6% |
| United Airlines | 3,028 | 84.3% | 1.35% | -9 min | 5.6% |
| Frontier Airlines | 581 | 70.4% | 1.89% | -4 min | 11.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 49.0% of the 7,076 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.89% of its flights here against 0.69% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 13.9 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 6.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.4%
- Feb: 83.5%
- Mar: 84.0%
- Apr: 80.0%
- May: 71.0%
- Jun: 66.8%
- Jul: 70.2%
- Aug: 78.4%
- Sep: 80.7%
- Oct: 84.6%
- Nov: 89.6%
- Dec: 84.7%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.5% from 169 flights
- August 2023: 82.6% from 164 flights
- September 2023: 79.6% from 137 flights
- October 2023: 85.1% from 194 flights
- November 2023: 91.3% from 208 flights
- December 2023: 87.9% from 232 flights
- January 2024: 78.9% from 229 flights
- February 2024: 82.0% from 222 flights
- March 2024: 82.2% from 246 flights
- April 2024: 80.6% from 209 flights
- May 2024: 64.8% from 211 flights
- June 2024: 68.5% from 164 flights
- July 2024: 64.4% from 167 flights
- August 2024: 76.8% from 152 flights
- September 2024: 80.4% from 149 flights
- October 2024: 88.2% from 195 flights
- November 2024: 90.6% from 194 flights
- December 2024: 85.2% from 209 flights
- January 2025: 79.1% from 225 flights
- February 2025: 83.7% from 215 flights
- March 2025: 88.2% from 220 flights
- April 2025: 77.0% from 192 flights
- May 2025: 73.2% from 180 flights
- June 2025: 65.8% from 156 flights
- July 2025: 73.0% from 160 flights
- August 2025: 75.3% from 148 flights
- September 2025: 81.9% from 155 flights
- October 2025: 81.2% from 224 flights
- November 2025: 86.9% from 198 flights
- December 2025: 80.3% from 191 flights
- January 2026: 83.8% from 173 flights
- February 2026: 85.0% from 207 flights
- March 2026: 82.0% from 229 flights
- April 2026: 82.2% from 216 flights
- May 2026: 75.6% from 206 flights
- June 2026: 66.0% from 163 flights
- July 2026: 77.0% from 167 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.1% against 80.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,076 MSY → DEN 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