Route profile
AUS→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Portland, 1,715 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 77% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,423 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → PDX arrives on time 81.1% of the time; the return trip, PDX → AUS, arrives on time 78.2% of the time, a 2.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → PDX spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,715-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has improved unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 93% of 5,368 comparable routes.
87.5% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 76.9% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 10.6 points.
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 AUS to PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 84.5% arrive on time, 13 points ahead of the 71.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
AUS to PDX holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 83.9% on time to their 76.2%, a 7.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
July is kinder to AUS to PDX than to routes of similar length: 83.8% on time against 69.7%, 14.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 14.1 points.
Alaska Airlines does better on AUS to PDX than on its routes of similar length: 81.1% on time here, 76.8% there, 4.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.1 points.
AUS to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 84.5% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | +13.0 pts | 374 here, 91,821 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 83.9% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +7.7 pts | 205 here, 206,532 there |
| Month: July | 83.8% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +14.1 pts | 185 here, 164,708 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 81.1% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | +4.3 pts | 1,400 here, 82,070 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 1,715 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
30 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 1,423 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.2% | 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 1.19% of the time and diverts 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,400 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 1,423 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → PDX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.5% of the time, against 71.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 86.1% on time from 427 flights
- 8 AM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 84.5% on time from 381 flights
- 6 PM: 77.7% on time from 123 flights
- 7 PM: 68.9% on time from 325 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why AUS → PDX runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 AUS → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on AUS → PDX, at 59.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 71.5%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 1,423 | 81.1% | 1.19% | -5 min | 4.8% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AS541 Alaska Airlines | 7:59 PM | 919 | 79.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 9.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.5% against 76.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 10.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,423 AUS → 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