Kansas City to Denver

What the Data Says About MCI to DEN

The Kansas City to Denver corridor (MCI → DEN) covers roughly 533 miles and is served by 23 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 22,302 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 67.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 8,443 flights were recorded on this pairing — 85 cancelled (1.0%) and 20 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 23 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 22,302 total flights analyzed, the 80.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 67.4-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, Mar 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 90% on-time, while Jun 2025 came in at 59% on-time — a 31-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the MCI to DEN route, the combination of a 80.4% on-time rate, 67.4-minute average delay, 1.0% recent cancellation rate, and 23 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.