DENKDEN
February 28, 20251,921 flights1,076,748 ADS-B points
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About the data

Flights reconstructed from ADS-B — the position signal modern aircraft broadcast to air traffic. Coverage is strongest across North America and Europe, thinner over oceans, polar regions, and parts of Asia and Africa.

Long-haul flights whose paths cross sparsely-covered areas may appear with an unknown origin or destination — the receiver network loses sight of them mid-ocean. We mark those unknown rather than guess. Every flight is still counted in the totals; the route-by-route breakdown filters to flights with identified endpoints.

On February 28, 2025, the 30th anniversary of Denver International Airport's opening day, ADS-B receivers logged 1,890 flights across 772 unique aircraft, averaging nearly 79 movements per hour through all 24 hours of the day. Arrivals edged out departures, 960 to 930. The single busiest hour was 19:00 MST, which produced 141 total movements, 89 of them departures. A secondary peak ran through the morning window: 8:00 MST recorded 128 flights, heavily arrival-weighted at 81 inbound against 47 outbound. The overnight lull bottomed out between 02:00 and 04:00 MST, with fewer than five movements per hour. The route network spread wide but concentrated toward the west. Salt Lake City led all city pairs with 50 combined movements, followed by Phoenix at 49 and Las Vegas at 46. Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare, and San Francisco each generated between 29 and 37 movements. Approach and departure tracks favored WSW and ENE headings above all others, with ESE and E also appearing frequently. True north was the least-used direction for both arrivals and departures. The 772 aircraft registered across ten countries, with 756 carrying US registrations. Six Canadian-registered aircraft appeared, and single aircraft from Austria, France, Germany, Turkey, Panama, Great Britain, and two each from Slovenia and Mexico rounded out the mix. Altitude data across roughly 1.07 million ADS-B position points shows a pronounced cruise-level concentration between 34,000 and 37,000 feet, with the 36,000-to-37,000-foot band alone accounting for more than 63,000 points. The highest-altitude flight, an Austrian-registered aircraft with tail number OE-LIM, peaked at 43,350 feet on an arrival covering 852.9 nautical miles. The longest flight of the day was a departure to San Juan covering 2,439.8 nautical miles in just under 312 minutes. The shortest was an arrival from nearby Buckley Space Force Base, just 6.9 nautical miles and under five minutes in duration. Average leg distance across all flights was 681 nautical miles.

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Summary

Total Flights

1,921

Arrivals

976

Departures

945

Unique Aircraft

780

Peak Hour Flights

141

Avg / Hour

80

Notable Flights

Shortest

7 NM5 min

From BFKBuckley Space Force Base

N8526W

Longest

2440 NM312 min

To SJULuis Munoz Marin International Airport

N27586

Highest

43,350 ft853 NM

OE-LIM

Most Active

8flights

N699BR

Time Highlights

Times in MST

Busiest Hour

7 PM

141 flights · 53 arr / 88 dep

Quietest Hour

2 AM

2 flights · 1 arr / 1 dep

Peak Frequency

26 sec

between flights at peak

Performance

Max Altitude

43,350ft

Avg Altitude

22,163ft

Max Groundspeed

632.4kts

Avg Groundspeed

311kts

Total Distance

1,295,556NM

Avg Leg Distance

674NM

Avg Leg Duration

114min

Traffic Flow

Arrivals
Departures
N27 · 32NE62 · 58E233 · 231SE196 · 178S63 · 59SW79 · 66W190 · 205NW126 · 116

Flight Trails

DEN flight trails on a state-border basemap

Routes

Arriving from

PHX
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport29
SLC
Salt Lake City International Airport26
LAS
Harry Reid International Airport20
LAX
Los Angeles International Airport18
DFW
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport17
SFO
San Francisco International Airport15
COS
City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport15
ORD
Chicago O'Hare International Airport14
MSP
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field14
SEA
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport13
AUS
Austin Bergstrom International Airport13
SAN
San Diego International Airport13
MCO
Orlando International Airport12
ATL
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport11
MCI
Kansas City International Airport11
IAH
George Bush Intercontinental Airport11
SNA
John Wayne Orange County International Airport10
PDX
Portland International Airport10
DAL
Dallas Love Field9
TUS
Tucson International Airport9

Departing to

PHX
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport27
SLC
Salt Lake City International Airport24
LAS
Harry Reid International Airport22
LAX
Los Angeles International Airport20
DFW
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport18
ORD
Chicago O'Hare International Airport16
MSP
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field16
SFO
San Francisco International Airport15
SEA
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport15
COS
City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport14
AUS
Austin Bergstrom International Airport13
ATL
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport13
MCO
Orlando International Airport12
MCI
Kansas City International Airport12
IAH
George Bush Intercontinental Airport12
SAN
San Diego International Airport11
BNA
Nashville International Airport11
SNA
John Wayne Orange County International Airport9
LGA
LaGuardia Airport9
OKC
OKC Will Rogers World Airport9

Aircraft by Registration Country

United States764
Canada6
Slovenia2
Mexico2
United Kingdom1
Türkiye1
Austria1
Panama1
France1
Germany1

Aircraft

780 unique aircraft

N699BR
8 flights
N983SW
7 flights
N465SW
7 flights
N933EV
7 flights
N377FR
6 flights
N154SY
6 flights
N8548P
6 flights
N894UA
6 flights
N309FR
6 flights
N929EV
6 flights
N900EV
6 flights
N86375
6 flights
N679SA
6 flights
N87367
6 flights
N792SK
6 flights
N86372
6 flights
N343FR
6 flights
N463SW
6 flights
N85374
6 flights
N506CA
6 flights

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Every flight path above, on a museum-quality aluminum print.

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