On-Time Report

Routes › Denver (DEN) › DEN to MEM

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Denver to Memphis: on-time record

Denver International to Memphis International

76.2%arrived 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. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.

Flights from Denver (DEN) to Memphis (MEM) arrived on time 76.2% of the time in the 12 months to July 2026. Reporting carriers scheduled 1,364 flights on the route in that period, about 4 a day, a distance of 872 miles.

That is level with the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and level with the 76.1% recorded for all departures from DEN. Flights that did arrive were 8.7 min late on average, and 0.8% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

3 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. Frontier Airlines had the highest on-time share at 84.7% of 144 flights; Southwest Airlines had the lowest at 65.0% of 492.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at DEN), flights leaving from 11 am to 12 pm had the highest on-time share, 86.7%; those leaving from 7 pm to 8 pm had the lowest, 46.5%.

The on-time share is up 5.1 points on the previous 12 months (71.1%); cancellations moved from 0.6% to 0.8%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 54%, air carrier 34% and national aviation system 11%.

76.2%arrived on timenational 76.0%
8.7 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.8%cancellednational 1.8%
114flights a month1,364 in 12 months · 872 miles
Every scheduled DEN to MEM flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
UA United Airlines72753%82.0%4.4 min0.8%
WN Southwest Airlines49236%65.0%17.7 min0.8%
F9 Frontier Airlines14411%84.7%-0.5 min0.7%

Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.

Compared with the airports and the nation

MeasureDEN to MEMAll departures from DENAll arrivals at MEMAll reported flights
Arrived on time76.2%76.1%73.5%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late22.9%22.9%24.2%21.9%
Cancelled0.8%0.7%2.2%1.8%
Diverted0.1%0.3%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay8.7 min7.8 min9.4 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights1,5791,5681,6821,684
Scheduled flights1,364319,20824,7207,043,858

12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.

The return direction, MEM to DEN, recorded 78.0% on time across 1,364 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled DEN to MEM flights that arrived on time, Aug 2023 to Jul 2026. Green columns are at or above the national figure for that month (the dark tick), amber below it, red more than eight points below.

Year on year: on time 76.2% against 71.1% (+5.1 pts), cancelled 0.8% against 0.6%, flights 1,364 against 1,222.

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over
Share of flights that arrived on time, by the hour they were scheduled to leave DEN (local time), 12 months to July 2026. Faded cells have few flights. Hover or tap a cell for counts.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNationalMinutes
Air carrier33.6%33.3%6,715
Late-arriving aircraft54.0%39.7%10,791
National Aviation System10.9%20.7%2,174
Extreme weather1.6%6.1%320
Security0.0%0.1%0
20,000 delay minutes on 313 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Seasonality

Calendar monthFlightsOn timeCancelledAvg arrival delayYears in sample
Jan31275.3%3.5%6.2 min3
Feb28777.4%0.7%7.1 min3
Mar34676.3%0.3%8.6 min3
Apr33374.8%0.3%7.8 min3
May34170.4%0.3%15.0 min3
Jun33459.6%0.9%24.5 min3
Jul34562.6%0.3%26.5 min3
Aug31868.2%0.6%15.7 min3
Sep31083.9%0.0%2.1 min3
Oct31984.6%0.0%-0.2 min3
Nov30381.5%0.3%3.0 min3
Dec31781.1%0.0%3.2 min3

Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.

Other routes from Denver (DEN)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
DEN–PHXDenver to Phoenix8,97375.3%9.5 min0.8%
DEN–SLCDenver to Salt Lake City7,73378.4%5.6 min0.4%
DEN–LAXDenver to Los Angeles7,70878.7%5.1 min0.5%
DEN–LASDenver to Las Vegas7,13375.1%8.3 min0.6%
DEN–SEADenver to Seattle6,31774.2%8.1 min0.6%
DEN–ORDDenver to Chicago6,13171.0%17.7 min1.1%
DEN–DFWDenver to Dallas/Fort Worth6,03673.7%13.0 min2.0%
DEN–SANDenver to San Diego6,03574.7%6.3 min0.7%

All 193 routes and the airport record for DEN · airport record for MEM

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Denver to Memphis on time?

76.2% of the 1,364 flights scheduled from DEN to MEM in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Which airline has the highest on-time share from DEN to MEM?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, Frontier Airlines had the highest on-time share (84.7%), followed by United Airlines (82.0%) and Southwest Airlines (65.0%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Denver and Memphis?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 54%, air carrier 34%, national aviation system 11%, extreme weather 2%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.

What time of day has the highest on-time share from DEN?

Flights scheduled to leave DEN from 11 am to 12 pm arrived on time 86.7% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 7 pm to 8 pm at 46.5%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.

Is it getting better?

The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 76.2%, up 5.1 points on the previous 12 months (71.1%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (84.6%) and June the lowest (59.6%).

Where does this data come from?

Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.