Route profile
SLC→MCI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Kansas 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 82% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,041 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → MCI arrives on time 84.2% of the time; the return trip, MCI → SLC, arrives on time 88.5% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → MCI spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 920-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 6.3 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 SLC to MCI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to MCI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 82.7% arrive on time, 14.8 points ahead of the 67.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
SLC to MCI holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 84.2% on time to their 75.9%, a 8.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
May is kinder to SLC to MCI than to routes of similar length: 86.1% on time against 74.4%, 11.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SLC to MCI than on its routes of similar length: 84.2% on time here, 81.5% there, 2.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.7 points.
SLC to MCI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | +14.8 pts | 323 here, 169,495 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 84.2% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +8.3 pts | 449 here, 421,992 there |
| Month: May | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +11.7 pts | 251 here, 237,756 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 84.2% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +2.7 pts | 3,002 here, 360,067 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
32 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 3,041 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCI after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 28% | High risk |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.2% | 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 0.89% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,005 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 32 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,041 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → MCI flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 88.6% of the time, against 78.9% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 9.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 89.1% on time from 845 flights
- 10 AM: 87.4% on time from 272 flights
- 11 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 83.1% on time from 378 flights
- 2 PM: 85.7% on time from 346 flights
- 3 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 82.7% on time from 325 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 79.8% on time from 376 flights
- 9 PM: 78.9% on time from 403 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SLC → MCI runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 SLC → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 84.2% | 0.89% | -9 min | 5.4% |
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 Sunday the least, a gap of 7.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.7%
- Feb: 86.0%
- Mar: 85.1%
- Apr: 87.0%
- May: 86.1%
- Jun: 81.1%
- Jul: 77.9%
- Aug: 77.9%
- Sep: 87.7%
- Oct: 91.2%
- Nov: 87.0%
- Dec: 83.1%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 13.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.6% against 81.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,041 SLC → 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