Flight Report

ADS-B data captured for Denver International Airport (KDEN) on February 28, 2025, the 30th anniversary of the airport's opening day, recorded 1,941 total flights across 960 arrivals, 952 departures, and 29 touch-and-gos. Traffic ran continuously from 00:00 to 23:59 MST, with a quiet stretch at hour 4 being the only gap. The busiest hour was 12:00 MST with 135 flights, and the average across the day held at 80.9 flights per hour. A total of 776 unique aircraft appeared in the data, the vast majority registered in the United States (760), with smaller numbers from Canada (6), Slovenia (2), and single aircraft each from the United Kingdom, Turkey, Austria, France, and Germany. Salt Lake City and Phoenix tied as the top routes with 50 combined operations each, followed by Las Vegas (46), Los Angeles (37), and Dallas-Fort Worth (35). Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco, Seattle-Tacoma, Colorado Springs, and Austin each rounded out the top ten. Approach and departure traffic was most concentrated from the WSW and ENE directions, with ESE and E also seeing heavy use on both sides. The shortest recorded flight was a 13.5 nautical mile, 12-minute arrival from Buckley Space Force Base. The longest was a 2,439.3 nautical mile departure to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, covering 311.8 minutes. Altitude data across 976,278 ADS-B position points shows a pronounced cruise band between 34,000 and 38,000 feet, with the 36,000-37,000 foot range logging the highest single-band count at 64,660 points. Average tracked altitude was 22,341 feet and the ceiling reached 43,350 feet, set by an arrival registered in Austria. Average groundspeed across all flights was 349 knots, with a peak of 632.4 knots. Total distance flown across all legs amounted to 1,315,080.8 nautical miles, at an average leg distance of 677.5 nautical miles and an average duration of 116.8 minutes.