Airport month record
MCIFEB
Kansas City International in February 2026
- Departures
- 3,503
- Month
- February 2026
- National, same month
- 80.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at MCI, see live FAA status.
MCI in February earns a B. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 5 points better than the national rate of 80.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 3,503 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 525 at 89.0% on time.
Set against the rest of the country, MCI's February record is 5 points better than the US average of 80.2%. That gap is worth roughly 47 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.
Key figures
On time
84.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,445 completed departures
Avg delay
69 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.48%
Nationally in February: 2.25%
Whole year
79.6%
MCI across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,503 departures from Kansas City 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 MCI's other months
Against MCI's own year, February ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, January ran 84.3% on time and March 79.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,442 | 73.2% | 79 min | 1.96% | C |
| August 2025 | 4,113 | 79.7% | 64 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 3,928 | 82.0% | 58 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 4,214 | 80.3% | 58 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,956 | 81.1% | 72 min | 1.82% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,969 | 74.5% | 83 min | 1.36% | C |
| January 2026 | 3,508 | 84.3% | 81 min | 3.39% | B− |
| February 2026 (this page) | 3,503 | 84.9% | 69 min | 1.48% | B |
| March 2026 | 4,227 | 79.3% | 75 min | 3.41% | B− |
| April 2026 | 4,184 | 81.9% | 70 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 4,354 | 79.5% | 65 min | 1.10% | B |
| June 2026 | 4,581 | 76.7% | 73 min | 1.24% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MCI in February
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 5 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am861 flights93.0%
- 8am–11am507 flights87.8%
- 11am–2pm645 flights87.4%
- 2pm–5pm764 flights80.5%
- 5pm–8pm608 flights76.0%
- 8pm–5am118 flights74.6%
Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.0% of the time, against 74.6% for the overnight 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 861 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.5% on time and Thursday the weakest at 81.7%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MCI in February
The two carriers here are closely matched: 5 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,687 | 84.0% | 48 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 525 | 89.0% | 88 min | 3.24% | A− |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 346 | 87.7% | 123 min | 1.16% | A |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 214 | 69.8% | 92 min | 0.93% | C+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 212 | 88.7% | 80 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 140 | 90.0% | 40 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 106 | 95.0% | 64 min | 4.72% | A− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 95 | 70.9% | 73 min | 9.47% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 70 | 86.6% | 56 min | 4.29% | A− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 48 | 97.9% | 96 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 44 | 79.5% | 152 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delta Air Lines cancels 3.2% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MCI in February
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCI to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 334 | 81.3% | 92 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| MCI to DEN · Denverthin sample | 295 | 82.9% | 71 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| MCI to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 222 | 90.0% | 88 min | 0.90% | A+ |
| MCI to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 202 | 77.2% | 44 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MCI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 166 | 87.3% | 124 min | 0.60% | A+ |
| MCI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 158 | 86.6% | 43 min | 0.63% | A+ |
| MCI to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 155 | 88.4% | 45 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 148 | 73.6% | 57 min | 4.73% | C− |
| MCI to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 139 | 74.5% | 52 min | 0.72% | C+ |
| MCI to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 137 | 89.0% | 46 min | 0.73% | A+ |
| MCI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 128 | 85.2% | 152 min | 10.16% | A− |
| MCI to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 105 | 88.3% | 75 min | 0.95% | A+ |
| MCI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 99 | 89.8% | 30 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to MIA · Miamithin sample | 87 | 85.1% | 104 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 87 | 81.4% | 85 min | 1.15% | B |
| MCI to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 84 | 90.1% | 71 min | 3.57% | A− |
| MCI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 77 | 78.9% | 37 min | 1.30% | B |
| MCI to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 75 | 96.0% | 38 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 71 | 94.4% | 30 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 65 | 87.1% | 66 min | 4.62% | A− |
| MCI to AUS · Austinthin sample | 59 | 93.2% | 33 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 56 | 90.9% | 45 min | 1.79% | A |
| MCI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 55 | 85.7% | 112 min | 10.91% | A− |
| MCI to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 53 | 94.0% | 22 min | 3.77% | A− |
| MCI to TPA · Tampathin sample | 50 | 83.7% | 79 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held MCI up in February
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 36,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Carrier
- 38%Late-arriving aircraft
- 16%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
38% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 36,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 35,877 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.48% against a national 2.25%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.17%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.8% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.5% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
What to do with this
Flying from MCI in February
For a February trip through MCI: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.9% on time with 1.48% 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
- Kansas City International (MCI), the whole year
- MCI in July73.2%
- MCI in August79.7%
- MCI in September82.0%
- MCI in October80.3%
- MCI in November81.1%
- MCI in December74.5%
- MCI in January84.3%
- MCI in March79.3%
- MCI in April81.9%
- MCI in May79.5%
- MCI in June76.7%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.