Salt Lake City to Denver

What the Data Says About SLC to DEN

The Salt Lake City to Denver corridor (SLC → DEN) covers roughly 391 miles and is served by 20 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 43,051 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 78.8% on-time rate with an average delay of 69.3 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 15,845 flights were recorded on this pairing — 98 cancelled (0.6%) and 37 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 20 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 43,051 total flights analyzed, the 78.8% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 69.3-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, Oct 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 87% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 64% on-time — a 23-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SLC to DEN route, the combination of a 78.8% on-time rate, 69.3-minute average delay, 0.6% recent cancellation rate, and 20 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.