Airport month record
DENFEB
Denver International in February 2026
- Departures
- 23,046
- Month
- February 2026
- National, same month
- 80.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at DEN, see live FAA status.
DEN in February lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 80.2%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That rests on 23,046 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 734 at 88.3% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 88.3% on time across 734 flights.
Key figures
On time
82.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 22,797 completed departures
Avg delay
69 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.88%
Nationally in February: 2.25%
Whole year
76.6%
DEN across all twelve months
These figures cover 23,046 departures from Denver International in February 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
February next to DEN's other months
Against DEN's own year, February ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.6%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, January ran 82.3% on time and March 76.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 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 | 28,557 | 67.1% | 80 min | 1.27% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DEN in February
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,662 flights94.5%
- 8am–11am4,677 flights90.1%
- 11am–2pm5,477 flights80.4%
- 2pm–5pm3,466 flights76.7%
- 5pm–8pm4,966 flights78.2%
- 8pm–5am2,798 flights80.5%
Scale runs 70% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.5% of the time, against 76.7% for the afternoon window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 5,477 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 87.5% on time and Tuesday the weakest at 72.4%, a spread of 15 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DEN in February
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.3% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 78.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,368 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 7,820 | 84.4% | 71 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 6,368 | 78.8% | 54 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 5,614 | 82.2% | 88 min | 1.25% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,538 | 85.1% | 56 min | 0.20% | A+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 734 | 88.3% | 87 min | 2.18% | A |
| American Airlines | 659 | 82.7% | 99 min | 1.67% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 168 | 86.3% | 59 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 88 | 66.7% | 82 min | 11.36% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 52 | 84.6% | 30 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delta leads Southwest by 10 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DEN in February
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN to PHX · Phoenix | 722 | 82.9% | 63 min | 0.42% | B+ |
| DEN to SLC · Salt Lake City | 616 | 84.1% | 66 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| DEN to LAS · Las Vegas | 567 | 84.2% | 57 min | 0.53% | B+ |
| DEN to LAX · Los Angeles | 550 | 81.6% | 64 min | 0.18% | B+ |
| DEN to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 460 | 81.0% | 64 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| DEN to SAN · San Diego | 460 | 84.1% | 57 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DEN to ORD · Chicago | 432 | 79.1% | 93 min | 0.23% | B+ |
| DEN to AUS · Austin | 421 | 86.0% | 73 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DEN to ATL · Atlanta | 412 | 85.4% | 52 min | 0.24% | A+ |
| DEN to SEA · Seattle | 401 | 83.3% | 49 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DEN to SFO · San Francisco | 399 | 74.6% | 64 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DEN to MSP · Minneapolis | 377 | 86.2% | 58 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DEN to MCO · Orlando | 375 | 84.0% | 53 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DEN to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 347 | 85.8% | 55 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DEN to COS · Colorado Springsthin sample | 346 | 82.9% | 67 min | 0.29% | B+ |
| DEN to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 338 | 81.5% | 76 min | 6.80% | B− |
| DEN to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 293 | 81.5% | 59 min | 0.34% | B+ |
| DEN to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 267 | 76.1% | 67 min | 7.49% | B− |
| DEN to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 259 | 81.8% | 67 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| DEN to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 257 | 84.4% | 85 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DEN to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 257 | 87.5% | 63 min | 0.39% | A+ |
| DEN to ASE · Aspenthin sample | 254 | 73.7% | 133 min | 11.42% | C− |
| DEN to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 253 | 87.7% | 71 min | 0.40% | A+ |
| DEN to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 252 | 86.5% | 60 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DEN to TUS · Tucsonthin sample | 246 | 80.1% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held DEN up in February
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 278,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 35%Carrier
- 16%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 278,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 15 to one. The split is drawn from 278,310 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.88%, below the national 2.25% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
6.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.5%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from DEN in February
For a February trip through DEN: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 82.4% on time with 0.88% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
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 March76.8%
- DEN in April82.5%
- DEN in May76.4%
- DEN in June67.1%
- DEN in July69.6%
- DEN in August67.1%
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.