Route profile
PHX→MCI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Kansas City, 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 7,821 flights. How this is calculated
PHX → MCI arrives on time 79.7% of the time; the return trip, MCI → PHX, arrives on time 81.5% of the time.
PHX → MCI spends 20.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,044-mile trip: 14.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to MCI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to MCI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 97.5% arrive on time, 7.2 points ahead of the 90.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
PHX to MCI holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.2% on time to their 77.0%, a 7.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.1 points.
August is kinder to PHX to MCI than to routes of similar length: 80.6% on time against 74.0%, 6.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
American Airlines does better on PHX to MCI than on its routes of similar length: 79.3% on time here, 73.9% there, 5.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
PHX to MCI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 97.5% | routes of similar length | 90.3% | +7.2 pts | 396 here, 217,936 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.2% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +7.2 pts | 958 here, 386,180 there |
| Month: August | 80.6% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | +6.6 pts | 578 here, 230,146 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 79.3% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +5.4 pts | 2,006 here, 571,517 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 PHX → MCI flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
PHX → MCI cancelled 56 of 7,821 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 140. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 71.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 196 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 56 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.
40 cancellations, 71.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
13 cancellations, 23.2% 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, 5.4% 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.
56 coded cancellations were recorded on PHX → MCI; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
34 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 7,821 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCI after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 0.72% of the time and diverts 0.29% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,742 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,821 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → MCI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.8% of the time, against 68.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.5% on time from 446 flights
- 6 AM: 97.5% on time from 400 flights
- 7 AM: 94.0% on time from 281 flights
- 8 AM: 88.7% on time from 800 flights
- 9 AM: 85.5% on time from 897 flights
- 10 AM: 86.2% on time from 440 flights
- 11 AM: 81.7% on time from 281 flights
- 12 PM: 78.8% on time from 563 flights
- 1 PM: 75.8% on time from 476 flights
- 2 PM: 74.7% on time from 227 flights
- 3 PM: 74.2% on time from 262 flights
- 4 PM: 69.2% on time from 361 flights
- 5 PM: 71.2% on time from 262 flights
- 6 PM: 66.2% on time from 587 flights
- 7 PM: 70.0% on time from 871 flights
- 8 PM: 68.8% on time from 525 flights
- 9 PM: 70.5% on time from 134 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHX → MCI 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 PHX → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → MCI, at 51.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 68.6%.
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 | 5,117 | 79.5% | 0.66% | -2 min | 4.6% |
| American Airlines | 2,032 | 79.3% | 0.89% | -7 min | 7.4% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 306 | 82.1% | 0.98% | -7 min | 4.6% |
| Envoy Air | 227 | 82.1% | 0.44% | -3 min | 6.7% |
Southwest Airlines flew 66.6% of the 7,682 flights listed.
Envoy Air arrived on time 2.8 percentage points more often than American 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA623 American Airlines | 7:24 PM | 780 | 71.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.7%
- Feb: 86.7%
- Mar: 75.9%
- Apr: 80.7%
- May: 75.7%
- Jun: 71.8%
- Jul: 71.5%
- Aug: 80.6%
- Sep: 85.9%
- Oct: 82.4%
- Nov: 86.2%
- Dec: 79.7%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 15.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.6% from 205 flights
- August 2023: 81.9% from 210 flights
- September 2023: 89.2% from 167 flights
- October 2023: 82.7% from 208 flights
- November 2023: 87.4% from 239 flights
- December 2023: 88.0% from 235 flights
- January 2024: 76.9% from 222 flights
- February 2024: 83.9% from 218 flights
- March 2024: 78.7% from 280 flights
- April 2024: 81.7% from 242 flights
- May 2024: 77.6% from 237 flights
- June 2024: 72.4% from 200 flights
- July 2024: 70.7% from 201 flights
- August 2024: 82.0% from 194 flights
- September 2024: 86.3% from 183 flights
- October 2024: 85.2% from 210 flights
- November 2024: 91.7% from 217 flights
- December 2024: 79.6% from 240 flights
- January 2025: 87.9% from 206 flights
- February 2025: 90.4% from 197 flights
- March 2025: 78.1% from 248 flights
- April 2025: 82.2% from 223 flights
- May 2025: 79.1% from 207 flights
- June 2025: 69.7% from 179 flights
- July 2025: 71.6% from 181 flights
- August 2025: 77.6% from 175 flights
- September 2025: 81.9% from 163 flights
- October 2025: 79.1% from 196 flights
- November 2025: 79.5% from 222 flights
- December 2025: 71.8% from 239 flights
- January 2026: 81.1% from 222 flights
- February 2026: 86.1% from 202 flights
- March 2026: 70.9% from 272 flights
- April 2026: 77.8% from 213 flights
- May 2026: 70.1% from 204 flights
- June 2026: 73.1% from 183 flights
- July 2026: 65.6% from 181 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.1% against 82.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,821 PHX → MCI 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