Airport month record

MCIOCT

Kansas City International in October 2025

Departures: 4,214
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 10

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at MCI, see live FAA status.

MCI in October lands a B+, level with the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,214 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 768 at 87.1% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 87.1% on time across 768 flights.

On time

80.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,193 completed departures

Avg delay

58 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.33%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

79.6%

MCI across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,214 departures from Kansas City International in October 2025. 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

October next to MCI's other months

Against MCI's own year, October ran level with the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MCI in October, at 0.33% against 1.51% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 82.0% on time and November 81.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

MCI month by month
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 (this page)	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	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 27 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,065 flights93.3%
8am–11am571 flights86.6%
11am–2pm751 flights82.6%
2pm–5pm884 flights72.5%
5pm–8pm763 flights66.5%
8pm–5am180 flights70.0%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.3% of the time, against 66.5% for the evening window. That is 27 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 1,065 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.6% on time and Monday the weakest at 72.2%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MCI in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 87.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 77.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,002 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MCI in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,002	77.6%	45 min	0.25%	B+
Delta Air Lines	768	87.1%	83 min	0.78%	A+
American Airlines	480	84.9%	114 min	0.42%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	285	72.6%	44 min	0.00%	C+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	180	78.9%	64 min	0.00%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	169	78.7%	48 min	0.00%	B+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	100	89.0%	50 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	88	76.7%	79 min	1.14%	B
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	68	91.2%	51 min	0.00%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	51	76.5%	75 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 MCI in October

Routes from MCI in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MCI to DEN · Denver	393	73.5%	43 min	0.00%	C+
MCI to ORD · Chicagothin sample	349	75.1%	47 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to ATL · Atlantathin sample	307	90.8%	57 min	0.00%	A+
MCI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	229	85.4%	78 min	0.87%	A+
MCI to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	198	78.8%	50 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to MDW · Chicagothin sample	198	77.8%	47 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	183	81.9%	52 min	0.55%	B+
MCI to DAL · Dallasthin sample	180	84.4%	59 min	0.56%	B+
MCI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	164	79.3%	41 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	147	75.5%	66 min	2.72%	B
MCI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	121	79.3%	47 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to MCO · Orlandothin sample	119	81.5%	51 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to DTW · Detroitthin sample	117	92.3%	94 min	0.00%	A+
MCI to CLT · Charlottethin sample	114	82.5%	154 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	104	81.7%	34 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	91	83.3%	66 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	89	82.0%	45 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to STL · St. Louisthin sample	88	86.4%	37 min	0.00%	A+
MCI to SEA · Seattlethin sample	88	78.8%	109 min	2.27%	B
MCI to HOU · Houstonthin sample	87	77.9%	50 min	1.15%	B
MCI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	83	78.3%	125 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to AUS · Austinthin sample	79	84.8%	37 min	0.00%	B+
MCI to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	71	94.4%	76 min	0.00%	A+
MCI to TPA · Tampathin sample	63	85.7%	41 min	0.00%	A+
MCI to EWR · Newarkthin sample	58	86.2%	133 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held MCI up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 48,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
44%
Carrier
30%
National Airspace System
24%
Extreme weather
2%

44% 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 48,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 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 47,557 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.33%, below the national 0.53% 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% 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 October

For a October trip through MCI: expect 80.3% on time and 0.33% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Kansas City International (MCI), the whole year
MCI in July73.2%
MCI in August79.7%
MCI in September82.0%
MCI in November81.1%
MCI in December74.5%
MCI in January84.3%
MCI in February84.9%
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.

Key figures