Routes › Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) › DFW to DEN
Route · 12 months to July 2026
Dallas/Fort Worth to Denver: on-time record
Dallas/Fort Worth International to Denver International
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.
68.3% of scheduled DFW to DEN flights arrived on time in the 12 months to July 2026. The figure covers 6,032 flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver by carriers that report to BTS, a distance of 641 miles.
That is 7.7 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 1.6 points below the 69.9% recorded for all departures from DFW. Flights that did arrive were 15.5 min late on average, and 2.1% 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 76.1% of 1,166 flights; American Airlines had the lowest at 60.0% of 2,935.
By scheduled departure hour (local time at DFW), flights leaving from 5 am to 6 am had the highest on-time share, 91.9%; those leaving from 10 pm to 11 pm had the lowest, 52.6%.
The on-time share is down 2.2 points on the previous 12 months (70.5%); cancellations moved from 2.1% to 2.1%.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 27% and national aviation system 21%.
- On time 68.3%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 29.2%
- Cancelled 2.1%
- Diverted 0.3%
Airlines on the route compared
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA American Airlines | 2,935 | 49% | 60.0% | 21.6 min | 3.2% |
| UA United Airlines | 1,884 | 31% | 76.0% | 10.3 min | 1.2% |
| F9 Frontier Airlines | 1,166 | 19% | 76.1% | 9.4 min | 0.9% |
| MQ Envoy Air | 24 | 0% | 87.5% | -1.5 min | 0.0% |
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
| Measure | DFW to DEN | All departures from DFW | All arrivals at DEN | All reported flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 68.3% | 69.9% | 78.4% | 76.0% |
| Arrived 15+ minutes late | 29.2% | 27.0% | 20.5% | 21.9% |
| Cancelled | 2.1% | 2.8% | 0.8% | 1.8% |
| Diverted | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Average arrival delay | 15.5 min | 14.2 min | 6.2 min | 8.1 min |
| Delay minutes per 100 flights | 2,262 | 2,106 | 1,561 | 1,684 |
| Scheduled flights | 6,032 | 312,515 | 319,190 | 7,043,858 |
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, DEN to DFW, recorded 73.7% on time across 6,036 flights in the same period.
Month by month
Year on year: on time 68.3% against 70.5% (−2.2 pts), cancelled 2.1% against 2.1%, flights 6,032 against 6,201.
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Seasonality
| Calendar month | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay | Years in sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1,403 | 69.7% | 5.8% | 11.6 min | 3 |
| Feb | 1,368 | 78.8% | 0.4% | 4.8 min | 3 |
| Mar | 1,573 | 73.0% | 2.2% | 12.6 min | 3 |
| Apr | 1,514 | 66.6% | 1.5% | 21.6 min | 3 |
| May | 1,619 | 58.7% | 3.4% | 29.0 min | 3 |
| Jun | 1,623 | 57.0% | 2.3% | 26.4 min | 3 |
| Jul | 1,655 | 61.1% | 2.5% | 27.3 min | 3 |
| Aug | 1,595 | 65.0% | 1.6% | 21.5 min | 3 |
| Sep | 1,483 | 75.1% | 0.8% | 7.1 min | 3 |
| Oct | 1,609 | 75.8% | 0.9% | 7.2 min | 3 |
| Nov | 1,472 | 77.8% | 1.6% | 8.7 min | 3 |
| Dec | 1,441 | 75.0% | 1.0% | 9.2 min | 3 |
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 Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW–ORD | Dallas/Fort Worth to Chicago | 7,001 | 65.9% | 20.0 min | 3.0% |
| DFW–LGA | Dallas/Fort Worth to New York | 6,705 | 62.4% | 20.0 min | 4.9% |
| DFW–ATL | Dallas/Fort Worth to Atlanta | 6,690 | 73.1% | 10.6 min | 2.6% |
| DFW–LAX | Dallas/Fort Worth to Los Angeles | 6,235 | 71.2% | 10.9 min | 2.3% |
| DFW–IAH | Dallas/Fort Worth to Houston | 5,805 | 67.4% | 19.4 min | 2.6% |
| DFW–PHX | Dallas/Fort Worth to Phoenix | 5,230 | 70.4% | 13.5 min | 2.5% |
| DFW–SEA | Dallas/Fort Worth to Seattle | 5,228 | 69.1% | 13.5 min | 2.0% |
| DFW–LAS | Dallas/Fort Worth to Las Vegas | 5,132 | 67.2% | 15.5 min | 2.6% |
All 187 routes and the airport record for DFW · airport record for DEN
Questions and answers
How often are flights from Dallas/Fort Worth to Denver on time?
68.3% of the 6,032 flights scheduled from DFW to DEN 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 DFW to DEN?
Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, Frontier Airlines had the highest on-time share (76.1%), followed by United Airlines (76.0%) and American Airlines (60.0%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.
What causes delays between Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver?
For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 27%, national aviation system 21%, extreme weather 4%, 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 DFW?
Flights scheduled to leave DFW from 5 am to 6 am arrived on time 91.9% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 10 pm to 11 pm at 52.6%. 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 68.3%, down 2.2 points on the previous 12 months (70.5%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, February had the highest on-time share (78.8%) and June the lowest (57.0%).
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.