Route profile
ATL→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, 526 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 77% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,756 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → PIT arrives on time 83.0% of the time; the return trip, PIT → ATL, arrives on time 88.3% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → PIT spends 22.3 minutes on the ground on a 526-mile trip: 15.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 6.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 97% of 5,368 comparable routes.
83.7% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 83.5% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 83.2% arrive on time, 14.2 points ahead of the 69.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.6 points.
ATL to PIT holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.9% on time to their 82.1%, a 5.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
June is kinder to ATL to PIT than to routes of similar length: 81.6% on time against 73.8%, 7.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on ATL to PIT than on its routes of similar length: 81.7% on time here, 78.2% there, 3.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
ATL to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 69.0% | +14.2 pts | 279 here, 92,946 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 87.9% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | +5.8 pts | 1,202 here, 227,840 there |
| Month: June | 81.6% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | +7.8 pts | 713 here, 134,141 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | +3.5 pts | 1,358 here, 400,736 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 526 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 → PIT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ATL → PIT cancelled 105 of 8,756 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 83. The reason filed most often was the airline, 68.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 122 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 105 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.
72 cancellations, 68.6% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
33 cancellations, 31.4% 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.
105 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → PIT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
30 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 8,756 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10.0% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 1.20% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,642 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,756 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → PIT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 72.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 94.1% on time from 466 flights
- 8 AM: 90.0% on time from 791 flights
- 9 AM: 92.9% on time from 510 flights
- 10 AM: 88.9% on time from 673 flights
- 11 AM: 88.5% on time from 585 flights
- 12 PM: 88.2% on time from 136 flights
- 1 PM: 87.2% on time from 718 flights
- 2 PM: 84.6% on time from 617 flights
- 3 PM: 80.1% on time from 964 flights
- 4 PM: 75.4% on time from 256 flights
- 5 PM: 77.5% on time from 634 flights
- 6 PM: 83.2% on time from 280 flights
- 7 PM: 71.5% on time from 582 flights
- 8 PM: 65.7% on time from 370 flights
- 9 PM: 76.1% on time from 253 flights
- 10 PM: 78.9% on time from 791 flights
- 11 PM: 73.4% on time from 130 flights
Why ATL → PIT 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 → PIT. 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 | 7,337 | 83.6% | 1.36% | -5 min | 4.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,362 | 81.7% | 0.22% | -5 min | 4.9% |
Delta Air Lines flew 84.3% of the 8,699 flights listed. Delta Air Lines cancelled 1.36% of its flights here against 0.22% for Southwest Airlines.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1363 (10:30 AM) arrived on time 90.6% of the time, 14.7 points more often than DL2583 (5:45 PM) at 75.9%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 8.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.3%
- Feb: 86.1%
- Mar: 82.2%
- Apr: 85.7%
- May: 76.2%
- Jun: 81.6%
- Jul: 72.6%
- Aug: 80.2%
- Sep: 88.8%
- Oct: 89.6%
- Nov: 90.4%
- Dec: 84.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 17.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.4% from 255 flights
- August 2023: 77.8% from 257 flights
- September 2023: 89.3% from 242 flights
- October 2023: 90.7% from 248 flights
- November 2023: 90.8% from 260 flights
- December 2023: 88.1% from 260 flights
- January 2024: 83.9% from 199 flights
- February 2024: 85.9% from 185 flights
- March 2024: 86.5% from 229 flights
- April 2024: 87.3% from 245 flights
- May 2024: 70.6% from 272 flights
- June 2024: 80.9% from 256 flights
- July 2024: 63.8% from 271 flights
- August 2024: 77.5% from 254 flights
- September 2024: 87.9% from 239 flights
- October 2024: 91.7% from 252 flights
- November 2024: 95.4% from 219 flights
- December 2024: 88.3% from 230 flights
- January 2025: 81.7% from 211 flights
- February 2025: 85.2% from 204 flights
- March 2025: 78.5% from 234 flights
- April 2025: 81.9% from 230 flights
- May 2025: 77.5% from 254 flights
- June 2025: 76.5% from 246 flights
- July 2025: 81.5% from 250 flights
- August 2025: 85.7% from 246 flights
- September 2025: 89.4% from 235 flights
- October 2025: 86.5% from 251 flights
- November 2025: 84.8% from 217 flights
- December 2025: 76.8% from 228 flights
- January 2026: 84.3% from 217 flights
- February 2026: 87.1% from 210 flights
- March 2026: 81.7% from 235 flights
- April 2026: 87.7% from 222 flights
- May 2026: 81.3% from 243 flights
- June 2026: 88.1% from 223 flights
- July 2026: 71.7% from 227 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.7% against 83.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,756 ATL → PIT 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