Route profile
ATL→MKE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, 669 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 76% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,387 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → MKE arrives on time 82.1% of the time; the return trip, MKE → ATL, arrives on time 87.6% of the time, a 5.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → MKE spends 21.2 minutes on the ground on a 669-mile trip: 15.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MKE.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to MKE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to MKE is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 81.6% arrive on time, 14.6 points ahead of the 67.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13 points.
ATL to MKE holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.7% on time to their 80.7%, a 7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.9 points.
September is kinder to ATL to MKE than to routes of similar length: 90.8% on time against 82.5%, 8.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
ATL to MKE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 81.6% | routes of similar length | 67.0% | +14.6 pts | 212 here, 147,750 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 87.7% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | +7.0 pts | 992 here, 319,313 there |
| Month: September | 90.8% | routes of similar length | 82.5% | +8.3 pts | 617 here, 184,450 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 669 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why ATL → MKE flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ATL → MKE cancelled 87 of 7,387 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 85. The reason filed most often was the airline, 65.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 130 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 87 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
57 cancellations, 65.5% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
30 cancellations, 34.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
87 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → MKE; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
32 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,387 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MKE after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 1.18% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,285 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 32 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,387 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → MKE flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 73.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 15.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 88.9% on time from 1,276 flights
- 9 AM: 86.6% on time from 347 flights
- 10 AM: 89.3% on time from 625 flights
- 11 AM: 87.2% on time from 299 flights
- 12 PM: 87.3% on time from 476 flights
- 1 PM: 83.4% on time from 337 flights
- 2 PM: 83.8% on time from 491 flights
- 3 PM: 82.3% on time from 385 flights
- 4 PM: 76.3% on time from 625 flights
- 5 PM: 83.7% on time from 123 flights
- 6 PM: 81.6% on time from 218 flights
- 7 PM: 70.2% on time from 716 flights
- 8 PM: 73.4% on time from 268 flights
- 9 PM: 74.0% on time from 175 flights
- 10 PM: 81.3% on time from 754 flights
- 11 PM: 66.7% on time from 252 flights
Why ATL → MKE runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ATL → MKE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 6,468 | 82.6% | 1.27% | -6 min | 4.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 856 | 80.3% | 0.58% | -4 min | 4.8% |
Delta Air Lines flew 88.3% of the 7,324 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 2.3 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1151 (8:20 AM) arrived on time 89.4% of the time, 15.8 points more often than DL1206 (7:45 PM) at 73.6%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.8%
- Feb: 84.5%
- Mar: 78.5%
- Apr: 81.5%
- May: 78.6%
- Jun: 79.7%
- Jul: 71.9%
- Aug: 80.3%
- Sep: 90.8%
- Oct: 90.8%
- Nov: 90.2%
- Dec: 81.8%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 18.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.9% from 223 flights
- August 2023: 73.1% from 230 flights
- September 2023: 88.9% from 217 flights
- October 2023: 91.7% from 218 flights
- November 2023: 92.1% from 215 flights
- December 2023: 90.2% from 214 flights
- January 2024: 79.6% from 188 flights
- February 2024: 87.6% from 170 flights
- March 2024: 76.7% from 193 flights
- April 2024: 80.5% from 205 flights
- May 2024: 72.0% from 226 flights
- June 2024: 83.1% from 213 flights
- July 2024: 66.5% from 227 flights
- August 2024: 86.2% from 226 flights
- September 2024: 92.1% from 214 flights
- October 2024: 91.4% from 222 flights
- November 2024: 91.6% from 203 flights
- December 2024: 79.1% from 196 flights
- January 2025: 78.3% from 185 flights
- February 2025: 80.7% from 171 flights
- March 2025: 82.0% from 202 flights
- April 2025: 79.1% from 173 flights
- May 2025: 80.7% from 197 flights
- June 2025: 73.7% from 196 flights
- July 2025: 82.3% from 199 flights
- August 2025: 82.1% from 198 flights
- September 2025: 91.4% from 187 flights
- October 2025: 89.1% from 201 flights
- November 2025: 86.1% from 176 flights
- December 2025: 74.6% from 183 flights
- January 2026: 81.9% from 169 flights
- February 2026: 85.1% from 162 flights
- March 2026: 76.6% from 182 flights
- April 2026: 84.9% from 193 flights
- May 2026: 83.6% from 216 flights
- June 2026: 81.7% from 201 flights
- July 2026: 69.6% from 196 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.2% against 83.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,387 ATL → MKE flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed