Airport month record
DENAUG
Denver International in August 2026
- Departures
- 28,557
- Month
- August 2026
- National, same month
- 73.1%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for August 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at DEN, see live FAA status.
DEN in August draws a C. About one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is a little over an hour behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 28,557 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,014 at 75.8% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 75.8% on time across 1,014 flights.
Key figures
On time
67.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 28,076 completed departures
Avg delay
80 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.27%
Nationally in August: 1.86%
Whole year
76.6%
DEN across all twelve months
These figures cover 28,557 departures from Denver International in August 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
August next to DEN's other months
Against DEN's own year, August ran 10 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.6%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations are where August stands out: 1.27% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.6 times the airport's rate across the year.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 26,548 | 79.4% | 54 min | 0.12% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 27,763 | 80.8% | 52 min | 0.13% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 25,280 | 84.7% | 62 min | 1.44% | B |
| December 2025 | 26,026 | 74.3% | 68 min | 0.64% | C+ |
| January 2026 | 24,484 | 82.3% | 60 min | 1.69% | B |
| February 2026 | 23,046 | 82.4% | 69 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| March 2026 | 27,089 | 76.8% | 72 min | 1.50% | B |
| April 2026 | 25,345 | 82.5% | 56 min | 0.27% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 27,406 | 76.4% | 58 min | 0.28% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 28,634 | 67.1% | 64 min | 0.41% | C+ |
| July 2026 | 29,503 | 69.6% | 73 min | 0.81% | C+ |
| August 2026 (this page) | 28,557 | 67.1% | 80 min | 1.27% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DEN in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 47 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,295 flights91.4%
- 8am–11am5,542 flights84.9%
- 11am–2pm6,401 flights77.5%
- 2pm–5pm4,717 flights60.9%
- 5pm–8pm6,195 flights44.2%
- 8pm–5am3,407 flights51.0%
Scale runs 35% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 44.2% on time, against 91.4% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 6,401 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 82.0% on time and Saturday the weakest at 61.4%, a spread of 21 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DEN in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 75.8% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 59.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 7,571 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 9,825 | 68.7% | 83 min | 0.75% | C+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 7,571 | 59.1% | 69 min | 1.31% | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 6,688 | 70.6% | 88 min | 1.85% | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,082 | 72.7% | 78 min | 1.63% | C |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,014 | 75.8% | 71 min | 1.28% | B |
| American Airlines | 810 | 70.3% | 123 min | 1.11% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 346 | 68.7% | 60 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 155 | 47.9% | 79 min | 6.45% | F− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 62 | 72.6% | 163 min | 0.00% | C+ |
The spread between Delta and Southwest is 17 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 17 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DEN in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN to PHX · Phoenix | 708 | 69.6% | 97 min | 1.13% | C |
| DEN to LAX · Los Angeles | 658 | 71.7% | 88 min | 1.06% | C |
| DEN to SEA · Seattle | 656 | 63.8% | 67 min | 0.30% | D+ |
| DEN to SLC · Salt Lake City | 649 | 66.8% | 75 min | 0.46% | C+ |
| DEN to ORD · Chicago | 578 | 61.3% | 112 min | 1.21% | D |
| DEN to LAS · Las Vegas | 562 | 67.5% | 75 min | 1.25% | C |
| DEN to SAN · San Diego | 553 | 52.4% | 64 min | 2.35% | F |
| DEN to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 541 | 72.6% | 86 min | 0.55% | C+ |
| DEN to MSP · Minneapolis | 532 | 72.3% | 79 min | 1.32% | C |
| DEN to ATL · Atlanta | 496 | 68.6% | 54 min | 1.01% | C |
| DEN to AUS · Austin | 491 | 66.3% | 84 min | 0.81% | C+ |
| DEN to SFO · San Francisco | 484 | 52.9% | 72 min | 1.24% | F |
| DEN to COS · Colorado Springs | 447 | 62.7% | 94 min | 2.24% | D |
| DEN to PDX · Portland | 432 | 70.3% | 76 min | 0.93% | C+ |
| DEN to IAH · Houston | 416 | 68.9% | 77 min | 0.72% | C+ |
| DEN to MCI · Kansas City | 412 | 68.2% | 74 min | 0.97% | C+ |
| DEN to LGA · New York | 401 | 65.3% | 74 min | 2.74% | C |
| DEN to BOS · Boston | 376 | 59.5% | 87 min | 1.33% | D |
| DEN to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 355 | 68.4% | 69 min | 1.13% | C |
| DEN to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 344 | 68.4% | 82 min | 1.45% | C |
| DEN to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 336 | 60.7% | 90 min | 3.27% | D− |
| DEN to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 336 | 73.1% | 46 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DEN to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 333 | 66.1% | 82 min | 0.90% | C+ |
| DEN to OMA · Omahathin sample | 313 | 67.4% | 77 min | 0.96% | C+ |
| DEN to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 306 | 71.1% | 66 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held DEN up in August
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 735,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 50%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%Carrier
- 17%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
50% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 735,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 to one. The split is drawn from 734,503 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.27% against a national 1.86%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.41%.
14.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.9% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from DEN in August
For a August trip through DEN: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 91.4% on time, and with 14.1% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in November would.
Related
Where to go next
- Denver International (DEN), the whole year
- DEN in September79.4%
- DEN in October80.8%
- DEN in November84.7%
- DEN in December74.3%
- DEN in January82.3%
- DEN in February82.4%
- DEN in March76.8%
- DEN in April82.5%
- DEN in May76.4%
- DEN in June67.1%
- DEN in July69.6%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.