SLC → DEN Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · SLCNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:54 UTC

Salt Lake City airport profile →

Destination · DENNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Denver airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

68/ 100Good

Better than 58% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 24,317 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

77.7%

18,722 of 24,108

Cancellation rate

0.63%

153 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 7.0 min

Severe delays

7.2%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

65 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

24,317

5 carriers

SLC → DEN arrives on time 77.7% of the time; the return trip, DEN → SLC, arrives on time 77.3% of the time.

SLC → DEN spends 30.9 minutes on the ground on a 391-mile trip: 20.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 10.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why SLC → DEN flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

SLC → DEN cancelled 153 of 24,317 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 159. The reason filed most often was the airline, 45.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 352 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline45.1%

Weather40.5%

Air traffic14.4%

Security0.0%

Of 153 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 352

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

69 cancellations, 45.1% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 392

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

62 cancellations, 40.5% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 1,105

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

22 cancellations, 14.4% of the total.

Security—

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.

153 coded cancellations were recorded on SLC → DEN; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

43 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late7.2%

Typical delay when late65 min

Cancelled0.63%

Landed somewhere else0.23%

Percentiles over 24,317 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DEN after arriving from SLC.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, SLC → DEN arrivals
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	4.3%	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 0.63% of the time and diverts 0.23% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 24,108 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 24,317 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

SLC → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.1% of the time, against 66.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 17.9 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (SLC).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.3 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.7 points.

On-time arrival rate for SLC to DEN by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

40–49
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 after 10 PM (232 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for SLC to DEN. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	94.4% on time271 flights	91.7% on time219 flights	94.1% on time221 flights	90.2% on time278 flights	90.6% on time279 flights	94.2% on time260 flights	92.4% on time262 flights
6 AM–7 AM	94.0% on time154 flights	90.3% on time168 flights	94.2% on time174 flights	90.2% on time144 flights	85.6% on time147 flights	93 flights, too few to score	85.2% on time144 flights
7 AM–8 AM	83.2% on time357 flights	84.3% on time332 flights	84.6% on time332 flights	81.9% on time357 flights	77.0% on time359 flights	80.4% on time299 flights	82.5% on time339 flights
8 AM–9 AM	78.1% on time269 flights	70.1% on time268 flights	71.1% on time266 flights	78.8% on time267 flights	77.0% on time266 flights	75.0% on time227 flights	78.1% on time242 flights
9 AM–10 AM	90.6% on time129 flights	89.6% on time144 flights	88.9% on time144 flights	81.1% on time123 flights	81.8% on time132 flights	83.1% on time131 flights	87.5% on time120 flights
10 AM–11 AM	79.7% on time383 flights	79.9% on time369 flights	82.3% on time374 flights	85.0% on time395 flights	76.0% on time386 flights	85.2% on time317 flights	81.1% on time394 flights
11 AM–12 PM	82.0% on time123 flights	115 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	117 flights, too few to score	81.0% on time122 flights	118 flights, too few to score	80 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	108 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	103 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	80.1% on time299 flights	82.5% on time347 flights	84.2% on time332 flights	80.8% on time322 flights	77.7% on time294 flights	83.1% on time267 flights	79.3% on time327 flights
2 PM–3 PM	73.8% on time308 flights	73.1% on time313 flights	66.9% on time325 flights	69.4% on time289 flights	66.8% on time294 flights	69.9% on time275 flights	71.7% on time319 flights
3 PM–4 PM	105 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	66.7% on time126 flights	99 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	53.9% on time142 flights	62.3% on time123 flights	59.2% on time134 flights	48.1% on time130 flights	51.5% on time133 flights	88 flights, too few to score	62.2% on time129 flights
5 PM–6 PM	67.3% on time299 flights	74.4% on time287 flights	73.9% on time282 flights	65.9% on time295 flights	66.2% on time297 flights	74.2% on time223 flights	66.8% on time268 flights
6 PM–7 PM	65.0% on time246 flights	66.3% on time196 flights	72.4% on time205 flights	68.4% on time241 flights	66.5% on time255 flights	75.7% on time157 flights	71.6% on time208 flights
7 PM–8 PM	71.4% on time120 flights	67 flights, too few to score	80 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	119 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	75.0% on time155 flights	116 flights, too few to score	75.8% on time128 flights	66.5% on time159 flights	68.5% on time164 flights	35 flights, too few to score	63.6% on time164 flights
9 PM–10 PM	73.4% on time170 flights	108 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score	78.2% on time171 flights	75.7% on time174 flights	115 flights, too few to score	76.8% on time188 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM84.1%

9 AM–12 PM83.0%

12–3 PM76.9%

3–6 PM66.2%

6–9 PM70.4%

9 PM–5 AM76.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why SLC → DEN runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline34.2%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Late-arriving aircraft30.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control30.5%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.4%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is DEN, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from DEN, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 4.0 times the normal rate at DEN against barely any change at SLC. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SLC 0.6% against 0.6%, DEN 2.8% against 0.7%. 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 SLC and DEN in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	SLC	DEN
Cancelled in bad weather	0.6%	2.8%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.6%	0.7%
Arrived on time, bad weather	71.0%	51.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	84.8%	78.8%
Departures in bad weather	20,014	92,610

Of the carriers on this route, SkyWest Airlines (0.4% cancelled against 0.7% for the other carriers at SLC) cancelled the fewest departures from SLC in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (1.9% cancelled against 0.6% for the other carriers at SLC) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at SLC

All departures from SLC

Cancellation rates in bad weather at SLC for the airlines that fly SLC to DEN, against the other carriers at SLC in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
SkyWest Airlines	5,888	0.4%below the others	0.7%
Delta Air Lines	9,247	0.5%about level	0.7%
Southwest Airlines	2,115	0.6%about level	0.6%
United Airlines	840	0.8%about level	0.6%
Frontier Airlines	525	1.9%above the others	0.6%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from SLC and DEN, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from SLC on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: SLC (airlines), DEN, 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.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Southwest Airlines	7,898	74.8%	0.65%	-3 min	6.4%
Delta Air Lines	5,133	78.6%	0.31%	-6 min	7.9%
SkyWest Airlines	4,215	83.6%	0.59%	-9 min	6.3%
United Airlines	4,061	77.7%	0.71%	-7 min	7.2%
Frontier Airlines	3,010	75.2%	1.06%	-6 min	9.0%

Southwest Airlines flew 32.5% of the 24,317 flights listed.

SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 8.8 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
OO4720 SkyWest Airlines	1:10 PM	916	88.6%
F93862 Frontier Airlines	6:00 AM	867	79.4%
DL1623 Delta Air Lines	1:20 PM	756	80.1%
DL1586 Delta Air Lines	5:45 PM	750	65.5%
DL1553 Delta Air Lines	10:15 AM	728	80.9%
F93982 Frontier Airlines	11:49 AM	726	71.9%
DL1667 Delta Air Lines	8:59 PM	623	77.5%

OO4720 (1:10 PM) arrived on time 88.6% of the time, 23.1 points more often than DL1586 (5:45 PM) at 65.5%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon77.6%

Tue79.5%

Wed79.0%

Thu76.7%

Fri74.5%

Sat79.4%

Sun77.5%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.0 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 14.3 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.1% against 75.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.2 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 24,317 SLC → 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

SLC airport DEN airport Return direction DEN → SLC

SLC→DEN

Right now

Route reliability

Why SLC → DEN flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why SLC → DEN runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at SLC

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology