The Federal Aviation Administration is metering arrivals into Denver International Airport tonight for thunderstorms, with an official average delay of 82 minutes and a maximum of 177. ATCSCC Advisory 116 keeps the ground delay program in force for arrivals estimated through 11:59 p.m. Eastern, which is 9:59 p.m. in Denver.
If you are flying to DEN from the contiguous United States, or from Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, or Toronto, do not leave for the airport until the airline app shows a current departure time. A green board at the origin is not proof that Denver is accepting airplanes at a normal rate tonight under this FAA program.
- Airport: Denver International (DEN).
- Window: Arrivals estimated 4:11 p.m. through 11:59 p.m. ET.
- Official delay: Average 82 minutes, maximum 177.
- Who is held: Contiguous U.S. plus Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.
- Action: Recheck the airline app before you leave the origin.
What a Denver ground delay actually does
A ground delay program is not a ground stop. The airport stays open, but the command center assigns later departure times at origin so Denver does not stack more arrivals than the thunderstorms will let it land tonight.
Those assigned times are called Expect Departure Clearance Times, or EDCTs. Your airline usually absorbs the hold at the gate or just after pushback, which is why a traveler sitting in Cleveland or Dallas can wait more than an hour while the DEN radar still shows airplanes landing.
That split is the part most people miss. The same FAA page that lists tonight’s program also said airborne arrival delays at Denver were 15 minutes or less after 9 p.m. Eastern. The long wait is often at the departure city, not on final approach over the Front Range. If you have not left the origin, the 82 minute average is the number that should change when you walk out the door.
The 82 minute average is not a circling forecast for people already airborne.
Advisory 116 uses UDP, the usual delay-assignment mode, and lists a program rate that starts at 48 arrivals an hour and later steps up to 68. Those rates are the airport’s allowed inflow, not a promise that every bank will run on time once the storms slide east.
The comments line is operational. Arrivals were assigned to 35 Left, 35 Right, and 34 Right, with departures on 34 Left and 25. Low pop-up storms and an out-of-status note mean the command center expected cells to keep forming near the field rather than one clean line that would exit on a schedule.
Who is inside tonight’s hold
The program covers all contiguous U.S. departures headed to Denver. It also names four Canadian airports: Halifax (CYHZ), Ottawa (CYOW), Montreal (CYUL), and Toronto (CYYZ).
That Canadian list matters because Deep Arrival already published separate August 12 weather posts for Montreal and Toronto. Those were local programs at YUL and YYZ. Tonight’s Denver advisory is a different stream: it holds airplanes leaving those cities if their destination is DEN.
United uses Denver as a hub, so the largest share of the hold sits on United and United Express banks. Frontier also concentrates flying at DEN. If you are on United or Frontier tonight, the airline app, not the airport monitor at your origin, is the first check.
Southwest, Delta, American, and Alaska flights into DEN from the lower 48 are inside the same FAA list.
How the official numbers moved this evening
CBS Colorado reported earlier Wednesday that gusty storms had already put Denver into a ground delay, with an average near 144 minutes and an expectation that the hold would ease after 3 p.m. local. That recap is useful as independent confirmation that the storm day was real. It is not the current control number.
The opened FAA advisory is later and lower. Average delay is 82 minutes. Maximum delay is 177 minutes. The arrival window now runs through 11:59 p.m. Eastern, which matches 9:59 p.m. Mountain. Treat the later FAA text as the live instruction.
A 177 minute maximum is not the typical wait. It is the worst assigned EDCT in the current table. Families connecting through Denver on a last evening bank should plan against that tail, not against the 82 minute average, because a missed last flight is a hotel night.
The FAA’s Denver status board, updated at 1:19 a.m. UTC on August 13, still showed a thunderstorm traffic-management program in effect. Airborne arrival delays were 15 minutes or less at that refresh. That combination is exactly what a working GDP is supposed to produce: short airborne waits, longer origin holds.
This is also not the July 29 Denver storm file. Deep Arrival already covered that earlier July 29 ground stop and delay at DEN. August 12 is a new calendar day, a new advisory number, and a new set of assigned times.
What to do before you leave the origin
Open the airline app, not a third-party map, and look for a new departure time or an EDCT note. If the time has moved, rebuild the rest of the day around that time, not around the schedule you printed this morning.
Give yourself a rule you can use in a parking garage. If the app still shows the original time and the FAA program is still live, wait 10 minutes and refresh once more before you leave. Programs get revised; walking into security on a number that just died is how people spend two hours at the wrong gate.
If you are dropping someone at DEN tonight, use the cell-phone lot and wait for a text after the inbound has a gate. The Jeppesen curb is a poor place to idle through a bank that is still being metered from Dallas, Chicago, or Atlanta.
Bags follow the airplane, not the original schedule. A checked bag on a delayed inbound can miss a tight DEN connection even if you sprint. If the connection is under 75 minutes tonight, ask the airline to rebook before you leave the origin, while there are still later seats.
Airport pickup in Denver has the same problem in reverse. A passenger whose origin sat 82 minutes can land close to the 9:59 p.m. Mountain cutoff and still need time to taxi, deplane, and ride the train from the concourse. Do not treat the scheduled arrival as a curb time.
Connections, hotels, and the last bank
Denver’s evening banks are where this program hurts most. An 82 minute hold on a 6 p.m. Eastern departure can erase the last westbound or mountain connection. The traveler decision is to rebook now if the next legal flight is the last one, not to hope the ramp catches up.
United and Frontier both sell a lot of same-day connections over DEN. If your itinerary has two Denver flights tonight, protect the second one first. The first flight can be late and still useful if the second has been moved to a later legal departure. The first flight is wasted if the second has already gone.
Hotel rooms near Peña Boulevard fill when a last bank breaks. If the airline cannot move you tonight, book the room before you leave the origin and keep the confirmation for the delayed-bag desk.
A Toronto or Montreal weather post does not cover a DEN-bound departure from those cities. Check this advisory too.
If you are not traveling tonight, do nothing.
| If you | What to do |
|---|---|
| Are flying to DEN from the lower 48 tonight | Refresh the airline app and wait for a current departure time before you leave home. |
| Have a tight connection through DEN | Rebook now if the next legal flight is the last bank. An 82 minute hold can erase it. |
| Depart Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, or Toronto | You are inside the Canadian scope. Treat the hold as official, not optional. |
| Are picking someone up at DEN | Wait in the cell-phone lot. Use the new arrival, not the morning schedule. |
| Arrive after 11:59 p.m. ET | Confirm FAA has not extended the program before assuming the inbound is free. |
- Before you leave: Recheck the airline app for a new DEN-bound departure time.
- At the connection: Protect the second DEN flight first if you have two tonight.
- After 11:59 p.m. ET: Treat the program as over only if no new FAA advisory appears.
Recheck the airline app, protect the DEN connection, and do not leave the origin on a dead departure time. That is the whole night in one line.
How late is Denver International Airport tonight?
The opened FAA advisory lists an 82 minute average and a 177 minute maximum for arrivals estimated through 11:59 p.m. Eastern, or 9:59 p.m. in Denver. Your airline app has the flight-specific time.
Is this a ground stop or a ground delay at DEN?
It is a ground delay program. Denver is still landing airplanes, but origin airports are being told to hold departures so the arrival rate stays inside the weather.
Does the Denver delay include Canadian flights?
Yes. Advisory 116 names Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto along with all contiguous U.S. departures headed to DEN.
Should I still go to the airport if the board looks normal?
Not until the airline app shows a current time. A normal origin board can lag the FAA EDCT by enough to waste a trip through security.
