Denver to Kansas City

What the Data Says About DEN to MCI

The Denver to Kansas City corridor (DEN → MCI) covers roughly 533 miles and is served by 24 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 22,306 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 77.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 62.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 8,479 flights were recorded on this pairing — 75 cancelled (0.9%) and 11 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 24 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 22,306 total flights analyzed, the 77.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 62.4-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, Nov 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 62% on-time — a 26-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the DEN to MCI route, the combination of a 77.5% on-time rate, 62.4-minute average delay, 0.9% recent cancellation rate, and 24 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.