Airport month record
MCIMAR
Kansas City International in March 2026
- Departures
- 4,227
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at MCI, see live FAA status.
MCI in March carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.4% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 4,227 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 628 at 86.1% on time.
Key figures
On time
79.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,068 completed departures
Avg delay
75 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.41%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
79.6%
MCI across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,227 departures from Kansas City International in March 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
March next to MCI's other months
Against MCI's own year, March ran level with the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 3.41% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 84.9% on time and April 81.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 | 3,503 | 84.9% | 69 min | 1.48% | B |
| March 2026 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 20 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,038 flights90.5%
- 8am–11am666 flights84.0%
- 11am–2pm641 flights78.2%
- 2pm–5pm814 flights73.2%
- 5pm–8pm774 flights70.6%
- 8pm–5am294 flights70.7%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.5% of the time, against 70.6% for the evening window. That is 20 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 1,038 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 83.5% on time and Sunday the weakest at 73.6%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MCI in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 86.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 77.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,054 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,054 | 77.7% | 62 min | 2.24% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 628 | 86.1% | 72 min | 5.10% | A− |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 356 | 81.4% | 103 min | 1.69% | B |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 264 | 78.3% | 81 min | 1.89% | B |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 245 | 81.1% | 77 min | 4.08% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 186 | 77.6% | 94 min | 8.60% | B− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 171 | 79.8% | 144 min | 1.75% | B |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 93 | 65.4% | 106 min | 11.83% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 86 | 71.6% | 48 min | 13.95% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 68 | 91.2% | 77 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 55 | 73.6% | 136 min | 3.64% | C− |
Delta Air Lines cancels 5.1% 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCI to ORD · Chicago | 377 | 73.1% | 110 min | 6.90% | C− |
| MCI to DEN · Denverthin sample | 339 | 77.9% | 85 min | 1.18% | B |
| MCI to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 272 | 84.4% | 57 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| MCI to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 255 | 81.3% | 81 min | 4.71% | B− |
| MCI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 208 | 81.9% | 84 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| MCI to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 184 | 78.6% | 58 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| MCI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 184 | 85.6% | 51 min | 1.63% | A |
| MCI to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 174 | 76.0% | 68 min | 4.02% | B− |
| MCI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 169 | 69.9% | 75 min | 12.43% | C− |
| MCI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 165 | 67.1% | 91 min | 4.85% | C− |
| MCI to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 157 | 72.8% | 55 min | 5.10% | C− |
| MCI to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 119 | 89.5% | 55 min | 3.36% | A− |
| MCI to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 116 | 78.0% | 78 min | 6.03% | B− |
| MCI to MIA · Miamithin sample | 112 | 75.5% | 66 min | 5.36% | B− |
| MCI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 110 | 83.3% | 83 min | 1.82% | B |
| MCI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 105 | 87.6% | 73 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 93 | 78.0% | 156 min | 2.15% | B |
| MCI to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 92 | 89.0% | 62 min | 1.09% | A |
| MCI to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 87 | 89.2% | 75 min | 4.60% | A− |
| MCI to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 87 | 84.9% | 67 min | 1.15% | B |
| MCI to AUS · Austinthin sample | 75 | 79.7% | 75 min | 1.33% | B |
| MCI to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 74 | 88.9% | 57 min | 1.35% | A |
| MCI to TPA · Tampathin sample | 74 | 80.6% | 52 min | 2.70% | B |
| MCI to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 69 | 67.7% | 47 min | 10.14% | C− |
| MCI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 62 | 86.2% | 84 min | 6.45% | A− |
Delay causes
What held MCI up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 63,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 50%Late-arriving aircraft
- 24%Carrier
- 23%National Airspace System
- 3%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. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 63,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 15 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 63,491 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.41%, against 2.90% nationally. That is about one flight in 30 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
8.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 9.5%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says 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 MCI in March
For a March trip through MCI: expect 79.3% on time and 3.41% cancelled, going by March 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the 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 February84.9%
- 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.