Route profile
ATL→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Portland, 2,172 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,445 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ATL → PDX arrives on time 79.9% of the time; the return trip, PDX → ATL, arrives on time 86.9% of the time, a 7.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → PDX spends 22.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,172-mile trip: 17.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 5.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 91.1% arrive on time, 12.2 points ahead of the 78.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
September is kinder to ATL to PDX than to routes of similar length: 90.8% on time against 83.0%, 7.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
In December, ATL to PDX runs 6.1 points below routes of similar length, 73.7% on time to 79.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.1 points.
ATL to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 91.1% | routes of similar length | 78.9% | +12.2 pts | 192 here, 58,064 there |
| Month: September | 90.8% | routes of similar length | 83.0% | +7.8 pts | 359 here, 90,946 there |
| Month: December | 73.7% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −6.1 pts | 334 here, 90,151 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 2,172 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
36 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 4,445 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.76% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,399 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,445 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → PDX flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.9% of the time, against 73.0% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 14.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 82.9% on time from 831 flights
- 9 AM: 85.1% on time from 298 flights
- 10 AM: 91.1% on time from 194 flights
- 11 AM: 88.4% on time from 339 flights
- 12 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 77.2% on time from 818 flights
- 5 PM: 66.9% on time from 178 flights
- 6 PM: 79.6% on time from 326 flights
- 7 PM: 76.1% on time from 1,176 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why ATL → PDX runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 3,926 | 80.9% | 0.79% | -5 min | 4.9% |
| Alaska Airlines | 517 | 72.4% | 0.58% | -1 min | 9.5% |
Delta Air Lines flew 88.4% of the 4,443 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 8.5 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL503 Delta Air Lines | 4:45 PM | 993 | 76.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.9%
- Feb: 79.1%
- Mar: 79.3%
- Apr: 82.7%
- May: 74.7%
- Jun: 76.3%
- Jul: 72.8%
- Aug: 84.8%
- Sep: 90.8%
- Oct: 86.4%
- Nov: 80.4%
- Dec: 73.7%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 18.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.1% from 139 flights
- August 2023: 88.1% from 137 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (106)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (97)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (77)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- June 2024: 75.6% from 137 flights
- July 2024: 70.2% from 141 flights
- August 2024: 78.8% from 139 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2024: 89.9% from 138 flights
- November 2024: 76.6% from 128 flights
- December 2024: 68.3% from 123 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (81)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- April 2025: 74.2% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 75.0% from 144 flights
- June 2025: 73.8% from 167 flights
- July 2025: 77.8% from 178 flights
- August 2025: 87.1% from 163 flights
- September 2025: 93.1% from 145 flights
- October 2025: 79.2% from 154 flights
- November 2025: 76.1% from 140 flights
- December 2025: 67.8% from 122 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (95)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2026: 77.5% from 129 flights
- June 2026: 79.9% from 149 flights
- July 2026: 72.4% from 154 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.0% against 77.2% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,445 ATL → PDX 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