Denver International in December 2024

81.5%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In December 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 25,905 domestic departures from Denver International (DEN). 81.5% left less than 15 minutes late and 84.1% reached their destination on time; 0.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.8% of flights departed on time and 78.1% arrived on time, so DEN departures were 3.7 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2023, the airport had 25,054 departures with 81.1% leaving on time: a change of +0.4 points, with flights up 3%.

Flights arriving at DEN that month were on time 84.7% of the time (25,884 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 37% and national aviation system 16%.

On time 84.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 15.2%
Cancelled 0.3%
Diverted 0.4%

Every scheduled departure from DEN in December 2024, judged by arrival at the destination.

December 2024 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	DEN, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2024
Departed on time	81.5%	81.1%	75.7%	77.8%
Arrived on time	84.1%	81.3%	76.1%	78.1%
Cancelled	0.3%	0.4%	0.7%	0.7%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	12.0 min	11.1 min	16.5 min	16.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	864	835	875	19,686
Scheduled departures	25,905	25,054	319,208	590,581

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	8,548	33%	85.9%	-0.5 min	0.2%
WN Southwest Airlines	7,669	30%	80.2%	3.9 min	0.2%
OO SkyWest Airlines	5,796	22%	87.2%	-1.1 min	0.5%
F9 Frontier Airlines	1,855	7%	84.1%	0.6 min	0.2%
DL Delta Air Lines	988	4%	84.4%	0.5 min	0.0%
AA American Airlines	725	3%	82.1%	1.4 min	1.8%
AS Alaska Airlines	167	1%	92.2%	-6.8 min	0.6%
B6 JetBlue Airways	105	0%	66.7%	66.9 min	1.9%
MQ Envoy Air	36	0%	77.8%	12.7 min	0.0%
G4 Allegiant Air	16	0%	68.8%	10.8 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DEN–PHX	Denver to Phoenix	813	88.3%	-4.2 min	0.1%
DEN–LAX	Denver to Los Angeles	679	87.5%	-3.1 min	0.0%
DEN–SLC	Denver to Salt Lake City	646	83.3%	-0.4 min	0.0%
DEN–LAS	Denver to Las Vegas	617	85.9%	-2.3 min	0.2%
DEN–ORD	Denver to Chicago	515	85.6%	-1.4 min	0.4%
DEN–SFO	Denver to San Francisco	505	77.0%	5.3 min	0.2%
DEN–DFW	Denver to Dallas/Fort Worth	495	78.8%	8.3 min	2.6%
DEN–ATL	Denver to Atlanta	486	86.2%	-1.0 min	0.0%
DEN–MSP	Denver to Minneapolis	478	86.8%	-0.3 min	0.0%
DEN–SEA	Denver to Seattle	469	86.1%	-3.0 min	0.0%
DEN–SAN	Denver to San Diego	452	75.7%	9.2 min	2.7%
DEN–COS	Denver to Colorado Springs	424	85.6%	-2.2 min	0.0%

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), December 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	37.1%	34.3%	90,799
Late-arriving aircraft	40.2%	40.2%	98,278
National Aviation System	15.9%	17.8%	39,004
Extreme weather	6.7%	7.5%	16,444
Security	0.1%	0.2%	234

244,759 delay minutes on 3,930 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left DEN on time in December 2024?

81.5% of 25,905 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 84.1% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 77.8% and 78.1%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In December 2023, 81.1% of 25,054 departures left on time and 0.4% were cancelled, against 81.5% and 0.3% in December 2024.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for December 2024; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for DEN · methodology · corrections.