Route profile
SLC→MSP
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis, 991 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 97% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,930 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SLC → MSP arrives on time 86.6% of the time; the return trip, MSP → SLC, arrives on time 87.2% of the time.
SLC → MSP spends 23.3 minutes on the ground on a 991-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 6.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSP.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 94% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, and the worst tenth are only 29 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SLC to MSP differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to MSP is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 88.7% arrive on time, 22.7 points ahead of the 66.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21.3 points.
SLC to MSP holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 87.8% on time to their 76.2%, a 11.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.6 points.
May is kinder to SLC to MSP than to routes of similar length: 88.9% on time against 74.3%, 14.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SLC to MSP than on its routes of similar length: 86.6% on time here, 80.6% there, 6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.1 points.
SLC to MSP against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 88.7% | routes of similar length | 66.0% | +22.7 pts | 151 here, 153,287 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +11.6 pts | 716 here, 455,049 there |
| Month: May | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +14.6 pts | 440 here, 256,567 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | +6.0 pts | 4,909 here, 447,260 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 991 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
21 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 4,930 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSP after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.3% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.0% | 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 0.30% of the time and diverts 0.12% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,909 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 21 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,930 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → MSP flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.8% of the time, against 80.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 13.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 91.1% on time from 158 flights
- 8 AM: 94.0% on time from 919 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 86.5% on time from 379 flights
- 11 AM: 85.8% on time from 748 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 88.1% on time from 235 flights
- 2 PM: 86.5% on time from 782 flights
- 3 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 80.4% on time from 1,126 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 88.7% on time from 153 flights
- 9 PM: 84.8% on time from 226 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SLC → MSP 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → MSP. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 4,930 | 86.6% | 0.30% | -8 min | 3.4% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL2916 (8:00 AM) arrived on time 93.1% of the time, 13.1 points more often than DL2935 (5:10 PM) at 80.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.1%
- Feb: 86.8%
- Mar: 88.7%
- Apr: 89.0%
- May: 88.9%
- Jun: 85.7%
- Jul: 76.5%
- Aug: 84.4%
- Sep: 89.2%
- Oct: 91.4%
- Nov: 94.1%
- Dec: 86.4%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 17.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.4% from 145 flights
- August 2023: 83.1% from 136 flights
- September 2023: 93.5% from 124 flights
- October 2023: 88.6% from 124 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2023: 91.1% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 79.0% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 88.4% from 138 flights
- April 2024: 90.5% from 137 flights
- May 2024: 92.9% from 141 flights
- June 2024: 84.4% from 148 flights
- July 2024: 69.6% from 148 flights
- August 2024: 81.9% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 91.3% from 127 flights
- October 2024: 91.1% from 124 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2024: 84.8% from 125 flights
- January 2025: 85.5% from 124 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 92.4% from 145 flights
- April 2025: 82.9% from 146 flights
- May 2025: 86.7% from 150 flights
- June 2025: 86.1% from 144 flights
- July 2025: 75.0% from 148 flights
- August 2025: 88.5% from 131 flights
- September 2025: 82.5% from 120 flights
- October 2025: 94.4% from 124 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2025: 83.2% from 126 flights
- January 2026: 84.8% from 125 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- March 2026: 85.3% from 145 flights
- April 2026: 93.8% from 146 flights
- May 2026: 87.2% from 149 flights
- June 2026: 86.7% from 143 flights
- July 2026: 79.6% from 148 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.0% against 86.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,930 SLC → MSP 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