Colorado Springs to Denver

What the Data Says About COS to DEN

The Colorado Springs to Denver corridor (COS → DEN) covers roughly 73 miles and is served by 11 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 22,924 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.3% on-time rate with an average delay of 75.5 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 10,310 flights were recorded on this pairing — 161 cancelled (1.6%) and 6 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 11 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 22,924 total flights analyzed, the 80.3% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 75.5-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Dec 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 92% on-time, while Apr 2025 came in at 63% on-time — a 28-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the COS to DEN route, the combination of a 80.3% on-time rate, 75.5-minute average delay, 1.6% recent cancellation rate, and 11 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.