Route profile
ATL→RSW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Fort Myers, 515 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 48% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,518 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → RSW arrives on time 77.8% of the time; the return trip, RSW → ATL, arrives on time 85.8% of the time, an 8.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → RSW spends 21.8 minutes on the ground on a 515-mile trip: 16.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at RSW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 91% of 4,467 comparable routes.
84.6% on time on a typical Wednesday, against 70.9% on a Sunday.
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to RSW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to RSW struggles most at 11 PM: 63.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.6 points behind the 74.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.8 points.
ATL to RSW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 74.6% arrive on time, 5.5 points ahead of the 69.1% those routes manage at that hour.
Sunday is the day ATL to RSW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.9% on time where they average 75.6%, 4.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
In March, ATL to RSW runs 7.1 points below routes of similar length, 72.2% on time to 79.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on ATL to RSW arrive on time 78.3% of the time, 4.8 points below the 83.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.2 points.
ATL to RSW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 PM departures | 63.3% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | −11.6 pts | 256 here, 3,370 there |
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 74.6% | routes of similar length | 69.1% | +5.5 pts | 855 here, 33,557 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 70.9% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −4.7 pts | 1,393 here, 217,265 there |
| Month: March | 72.2% | routes of similar length | 79.3% | −7.1 pts | 943 here, 118,185 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 78.3% | routes of similar length | 83.1% | −4.8 pts | 8,268 here, 316,876 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 515 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 → RSW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ATL → RSW cancelled 136 of 9,518 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 70. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 54.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 129 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 136 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
74 cancellations, 54.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
57 cancellations, 41.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 3.7% 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.
136 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → RSW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
44 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 9,518 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RSW after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.9% | 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 1.43% of the time and diverts 0.29% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,354 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,518 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → RSW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.6% of the time, against 72.0% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 15.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 85.3% on time from 131 flights
- 8 AM: 87.9% on time from 1,037 flights
- 9 AM: 79.9% on time from 182 flights
- 10 AM: 82.0% on time from 1,357 flights
- 11 AM: 82.6% on time from 306 flights
- 12 PM: 83.4% on time from 826 flights
- 1 PM: 79.6% on time from 277 flights
- 2 PM: 79.2% on time from 707 flights
- 3 PM: 74.8% on time from 542 flights
- 4 PM: 71.4% on time from 273 flights
- 5 PM: 72.6% on time from 898 flights
- 6 PM: 72.9% on time from 290 flights
- 7 PM: 72.7% on time from 644 flights
- 8 PM: 70.6% on time from 407 flights
- 9 PM: 72.1% on time from 507 flights
- 10 PM: 74.6% on time from 869 flights
- 11 PM: 63.3% on time from 265 flights
Why ATL → RSW 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 → RSW. 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 | 8,414 | 78.3% | 1.41% | -4 min | 6.7% |
| Southwest Airlines | 864 | 76.3% | 1.50% | -3 min | 7.8% |
Delta Air Lines flew 90.7% of the 9,278 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 2.0 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.
DL1089 (8:05 AM) arrived on time 88.0% of the time, 16.0 points more often than DL1083 (8:45 PM) at 72.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.3%
- Feb: 80.5%
- Mar: 72.2%
- Apr: 79.0%
- May: 73.6%
- Jun: 76.3%
- Jul: 65.3%
- Aug: 79.4%
- Sep: 85.6%
- Oct: 86.4%
- Nov: 86.9%
- Dec: 78.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 21.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.5% from 248 flights
- August 2023: 79.1% from 245 flights
- September 2023: 84.2% from 228 flights
- October 2023: 86.0% from 236 flights
- November 2023: 88.3% from 282 flights
- December 2023: 80.8% from 346 flights
- January 2024: 75.6% from 332 flights
- February 2024: 86.9% from 306 flights
- March 2024: 73.2% from 367 flights
- April 2024: 80.6% from 311 flights
- May 2024: 69.6% from 282 flights
- June 2024: 78.8% from 242 flights
- July 2024: 59.6% from 243 flights
- August 2024: 82.6% from 243 flights
- September 2024: 85.2% from 224 flights
- October 2024: 91.0% from 230 flights
- November 2024: 90.3% from 237 flights
- December 2024: 81.4% from 273 flights
- January 2025: 76.4% from 279 flights
- February 2025: 76.3% from 259 flights
- March 2025: 72.5% from 311 flights
- April 2025: 75.6% from 257 flights
- May 2025: 76.8% from 241 flights
- June 2025: 67.2% from 236 flights
- July 2025: 66.7% from 243 flights
- August 2025: 76.4% from 223 flights
- September 2025: 87.5% from 200 flights
- October 2025: 82.2% from 210 flights
- November 2025: 81.8% from 226 flights
- December 2025: 72.2% from 253 flights
- January 2026: 77.1% from 260 flights
- February 2026: 76.9% from 250 flights
- March 2026: 70.6% from 283 flights
- April 2026: 80.4% from 249 flights
- May 2026: 75.0% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 83.4% from 213 flights
- July 2026: 64.9% from 216 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.1% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,518 ATL → RSW 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