Airport month record
DENJUL
Denver International in July 2026
- Departures
- 29,503
- Month
- July 2026
- National, same month
- 71.7%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for July 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s July. For today’s conditions at DEN, see live FAA status.
DEN in July sits in the middle of the pack with a C+. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points worse than the national rate of 71.7%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 29,503 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,082 at 77.1% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 77.1% on time across 1,082 flights.
Key figures
On time
69.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 29,073 completed departures
Avg delay
73 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.81%
Nationally in July: 2.62%
Whole year
76.6%
DEN across all twelve months
These figures cover 29,503 departures from Denver International in July 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
July next to DEN's other months
Against DEN's own year, July ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.6%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, June ran 67.1% on time and August 67.1%, 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 July
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 40 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,923 flights91.1%
- 8am–11am5,714 flights85.0%
- 11am–2pm6,076 flights77.4%
- 2pm–5pm4,606 flights64.9%
- 5pm–8pm6,273 flights50.7%
- 8pm–5am3,911 flights54.3%
Scale runs 40% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 50.7% on time, against 91.1% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 6,273 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 78.3% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 64.0%, a spread of 14 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DEN in July
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 77.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 63.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 8,375 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 9,851 | 70.3% | 72 min | 0.46% | C+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 8,375 | 63.1% | 63 min | 0.82% | D+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 6,639 | 73.6% | 84 min | 0.53% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,145 | 74.2% | 74 min | 1.03% | C |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,082 | 77.1% | 79 min | 2.22% | B |
| American Airlines | 831 | 69.8% | 106 min | 2.17% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 354 | 76.6% | 72 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 153 | 56.1% | 111 min | 15.03% | D− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 73 | 77.8% | 80 min | 1.37% | B |
The spread between Delta and Southwest is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DEN in July
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN to PHX · Phoenix | 701 | 66.0% | 74 min | 1.28% | C |
| DEN to SEA · Seattle | 678 | 70.2% | 65 min | 0.44% | C+ |
| DEN to LAX · Los Angeles | 666 | 71.5% | 66 min | 0.60% | C+ |
| DEN to SLC · Salt Lake City | 662 | 73.1% | 71 min | 0.30% | C+ |
| DEN to LAS · Las Vegas | 586 | 67.5% | 77 min | 0.34% | C+ |
| DEN to MSP · Minneapolis | 567 | 73.1% | 70 min | 0.18% | C+ |
| DEN to ORD · Chicago | 553 | 67.9% | 97 min | 3.44% | C− |
| DEN to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 547 | 68.9% | 104 min | 1.10% | C |
| DEN to SAN · San Diego | 544 | 64.4% | 57 min | 0.92% | D+ |
| DEN to ATL · Atlanta | 531 | 63.2% | 57 min | 1.32% | D |
| DEN to AUS · Austin | 530 | 66.2% | 59 min | 0.94% | C+ |
| DEN to SFO · San Francisco | 514 | 43.9% | 62 min | 0.39% | F+ |
| DEN to PDX · Portland | 457 | 73.0% | 69 min | 0.22% | C+ |
| DEN to IAH · Houston | 444 | 72.3% | 63 min | 0.68% | C+ |
| DEN to MCI · Kansas City | 439 | 75.3% | 83 min | 0.23% | B+ |
| DEN to COS · Colorado Springs | 435 | 66.5% | 74 min | 0.46% | C+ |
| DEN to LGA · New York | 404 | 62.8% | 75 min | 5.45% | D− |
| DEN to MCO · Orlando | 397 | 72.9% | 55 min | 1.01% | C |
| DEN to BOS · Boston | 396 | 60.2% | 76 min | 3.03% | D− |
| DEN to SMF · Sacramento | 395 | 66.8% | 66 min | 0.76% | C+ |
| DEN to STL · St. Louis | 385 | 67.0% | 80 min | 0.78% | C+ |
| DEN to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 353 | 67.6% | 55 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DEN to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 344 | 68.0% | 98 min | 2.33% | C |
| DEN to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 336 | 75.1% | 47 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| DEN to OMA · Omahathin sample | 336 | 74.3% | 81 min | 0.30% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held DEN up in July
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 643,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 30%Carrier
- 18%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 643,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 to one. The split is drawn from 642,768 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.81%, below the national 2.62% 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.
12.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 11.3% 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 July
For a July trip through DEN: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 91.1% on time, and with 12.0% 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 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.