Flight profile · Delta Air Lines
DL539
Atlanta (ATL) to Portland (PDX) · scheduled 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM
How DL539 performs
621 operations, December 2024 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on ATL → PDX, DL539 averaged about one operation a day or more (621 in 621 days, cancelled ones included).
DL539 arrived on time 84.0% of the time, against 79.9% for all ATL → PDX flights, so this departure is 4.1 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against Delta Air Lines’ own flights on this route it is 3.2 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 621 operations, December 2024 – August 2026 · If DL539 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
Where DL539 is right now
A live reading, only if you ask for it. It is not part of the reliability record above.
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL539 | 84.0% | 0.97% | -4 min | 2.4% | 621 |
| Delta Air Lines on ATL → PDX | 80.8% | 0.77% | -5 min | 4.9% | 4,051 |
| All ATL → PDX flights | 79.9% | 0.74% | -4 min | 5.4% | 4,601 |
DL539 cancelled 6 of 621 operations (0.97%), close to the 0.74% for ATL → PDX.
2.4% of DL539’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 5.4% across ATL → PDX, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · December 2024 – August 2026
Why DL539 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DL539 on ATL → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering December 2024 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies DL539 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
The aircraft flying DL539 came in 15 or more minutes late on 8% of the departures where its previous flight is known. There are not enough departures in both groups to say how the flight left after a late one and after an on-time one.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into ATL: 543 of 615 departures. Unknown, cancelled or diverted inbounds and gaps over 12 hours are left out.
Against the network at the same turn length
| Share of departures | Inbound landed 15+ late |
|---|---|
| DL539 | 8% |
| Network, same turn | 23% |
A long gap on the ground gives a late aircraft room to catch up before this flight pushes back.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 90 minutes to 3 hours. How often DL539’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is lower than the network’s. There are not enough departures in both groups to compare how it left.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering December 2024 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves ATL late, does that still matter by the time it reaches PDX?
On arrival at PDX, DL539 spends 4.7 min taxiing from touchdown to the gate — ground time a connecting passenger sits through before they can even leave the aircraft, on top of however late the flight itself ran. That is about what any arrival at PDX spends on the ground before reaching the gate.
Taxi-out is gate to wheels up and sits inside the scheduled block; the hourly comparison is 81,885 ATL departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 193,821 arrivals at PDX. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · December 2024 – August 2026
The hour it leaves ATL
DL539 has one departure time, 8:30 AM, so this is what that hour at ATL is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 81,885 departures from ATL are scheduled in the 8 AM–9 AM hour over the period, against 1,039,468 across the whole day.
DL539 is scheduled out of ATL at 8:30 AM, in the 8 AM–9 AM bank. Departures from ATL in that hour arrive on time 88.1% of the time against 78.6% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 9.5 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from ATL, so they describe the slot, not this journey; the route comparison is above. Why the hour matters.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · December 2024 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
Other routes DL539 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. DL539 also served these 13 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDX→ATL Portland to Atlanta | June 7, 2024 – August 31, 2026 | 603 | 84.5% |
| DFW→ATL Dallas–Fort Worth to Atlanta | November 11, 2024 – December 18, 2024 | 38 | — |
| PHX→DTW Phoenix to Detroit | October 7, 2024 – November 10, 2024 | 35 | — |
| JFK→SAT New York to San Antonio | May 7, 2024 – June 6, 2024 | 31 | — |
| JFK→SFO New York to San Francisco | April 9, 2024 – May 6, 2024 | 28 | — |
| SFO→JFK San Francisco to New York | April 9, 2024 – May 6, 2024 | 28 | — |
| LAX→MCO Los Angeles to Orlando | October 9, 2023 – March 31, 2024 | 42 | — |
| MSY→SLC New Orleans to Salt Lake City | March 16–30, 2024 | 3 | — |
| LGA→ATL New York to Atlanta | January 8, 2024 – March 9, 2024 | 62 | — |
| SEA→MCO Seattle to Orlando | September 5, 2023 – December 15, 2023 | 79 | — |
| SEA→ONT Seattle to Ontario | November 24, 2023 | 1 | — |
| MSP→DEN Minneapolis to Denver | July 1, 2023 – September 4, 2023 | 47 | — |
| MSN→MSP Madison to Minneapolis | August 23, 2023 | 1 | — |
The figures above describe only ATL → PDX, the route DL539 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
25 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 621 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering December 2024 – August 2026
Other flights on this route
Same airports, same journey, different odds of arriving on time.
| Flight | Airline | On time | Median arrival | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL539 this flight | Delta Air Lines | 84.0% | 4 min early | 621 |
| DL503 | Delta Air Lines | 76.9% | 3 min early | 1,024 |
Among all 2 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, DL539 has the highest on-time rate. Every departure here has at least 600 operations; the other rows are the most punctual on the route, not all of them.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 621 records of DL539 operating ATL → PDX, published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule; cancelled and diverted flights are reported separately, not in the on-time rate.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: Most and Least Reliable Flight Numbers · The Delay You Inherit · Making Up Time in the Air
Analysis last recomputed