BNA → ATL Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · BNANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Nashville airport profile →

Destination · ATLNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:52 UTC

Atlanta airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

78/ 100Strong

Better than 84% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 12,224 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

85.4%

10,301 of 12,067

Cancellation rate

1.19%

146 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-10 min

Average 0.7 min

Severe delays

5.0%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

68 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

12,224

2 carriers

BNA → ATL arrives on time 85.4% of the time; the return trip, ATL → BNA, arrives on time 81.7% of the time, a 3.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

BNA → ATL spends 24.7 minutes on the ground on a 214-mile trip: 16.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BNA and 8.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why BNA → ATL flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

BNA → ATL cancelled 146 of 12,224 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 84. The reason filed most often was the airline, 53.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 157 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline53.4%

Weather45.9%

Air traffic0.7%

Security0.0%

Of 146 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 157

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

78 cancellations, 53.4% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 182

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

67 cancellations, 45.9% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 12,224

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

1 cancellation, 0.7% of the total.

Security—

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.

146 coded cancellations were recorded on BNA → ATL; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

27 min late

against a median of 10 min early

Arrived an hour or more late5.0%

Typical delay when late68 min

Cancelled1.19%

Landed somewhere else0.09%

Percentiles over 12,224 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at ATL after arriving from BNA.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, BNA → ATL arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	26%	High risk
45 min	14%	Some risk
60 min	9.0%	Some risk
90 min	4.9%	Low risk
120 min	3.1%	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 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,067 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 27 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,224 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

BNA → ATL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.8% of the time, against 73.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 17.9 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (BNA).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 6.8 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.2 points.

On-time arrival rate for BNA to ATL by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94
95–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures after 8 PM (206 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for BNA to ATL. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	95.5% on time163 flights	93.8% on time162 flights	95.1% on time162 flights	95.2% on time165 flights	93.3% on time165 flights	96.2% on time162 flights	96.9% on time165 flights
6 AM–7 AM	87 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	90 flights, too few to score
7 AM–8 AM	88.6% on time195 flights	91.8% on time149 flights	90.1% on time151 flights	93.9% on time198 flights	92.4% on time200 flights	86 flights, too few to score	91.1% on time150 flights
8 AM–9 AM	89.2% on time133 flights	93.6% on time141 flights	93.6% on time141 flights	93.1% on time131 flights	91.3% on time129 flights	92 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score
9 AM–10 AM	90.2% on time155 flights	89.0% on time163 flights	97.4% on time159 flights	95.4% on time154 flights	94.7% on time154 flights	95 flights, too few to score	89.3% on time153 flights
10 AM–11 AM	81 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	80 flights, too few to score	85.6% on time121 flights	91 flights, too few to score
11 AM–12 PM	108 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	55 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	79.2% on time155 flights	89.5% on time143 flights	93.5% on time141 flights	89.7% on time155 flights	82.1% on time152 flights	115 flights, too few to score	84.6% on time124 flights
1 PM–2 PM	47 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	49 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	82.4% on time151 flights	83.3% on time169 flights	90.5% on time169 flights	84.1% on time151 flights	80.5% on time156 flights	81.8% on time144 flights	84.0% on time152 flights
3 PM–4 PM	19 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	42 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	86.6% on time152 flights	81.1% on time149 flights	81.9% on time149 flights	80.0% on time151 flights	80.0% on time149 flights	101 flights, too few to score	72.4% on time150 flights
5 PM–6 PM	70.4% on time162 flights	84.3% on time121 flights	81.7% on time121 flights	72.2% on time153 flights	69.1% on time156 flights	80.5% on time120 flights	74.6% on time124 flights
6 PM–7 PM	85 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	90 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	74.0% on time150 flights	60 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	77.8% on time144 flights	72.1% on time144 flights	22 flights, too few to score	69.2% on time137 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM91.8%

9 AM–12 PM89.7%

12–3 PM85.2%

3–6 PM78.3%

6–9 PM73.9%

9 PM–5 AM—

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

Why BNA → ATL runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft45.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline27.1%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control21.3%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather5.7%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for BNA → ATL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BNA → ATL, at 45.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 73.9%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of BNA to ATL: 4.4 times the normal rate at BNA and 3.3 times at ATL. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: BNA 4.7% against 1.1%, ATL 3.4% against 1.0%. Flights that did leave ATL in bad weather arrived on time 66.5% of the time, against 80.2% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from BNA and ATL in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	BNA	ATL
Cancelled in bad weather	4.7%	3.4%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.1%	1.0%
Arrived on time, bad weather	66.5%	66.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	79.0%	80.2%
Departures in bad weather	20,643	105,854

Southwest Airlines (4.3% cancelled against 5.4% for the other carriers at BNA) cancelled fewer departures from BNA in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at BNA

All departures from BNA

Cancellation rates in bad weather at BNA for the airlines that fly BNA to ATL, against the other carriers at BNA in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Southwest Airlines	10,655	4.3%below the others	5.4%
Delta Air Lines	1,788	3.6%about level	4.3%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from BNA and ATL, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from BNA on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: BNA (airlines), ATL, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Delta Air Lines	9,738	87.3%	1.33%	-11 min	4.7%
Southwest Airlines	2,482	77.8%	0.64%	-6 min	6.0%

Delta Air Lines flew 79.7% of the 12,220 flights listed.

Delta Air Lines arrived on time 9.5 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
DL2637 Delta Air Lines	5:15 AM	1,085	94.5%
DL3001 Delta Air Lines	6:15 AM	762	87.3%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon83.1%

Tue87.3%

Wed88.7%

Thu86.8%

Fri83.0%

Sat85.4%

Sun83.4%

Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.7 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.1 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.5% against 85.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.1 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,224 BNA → ATL 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

BNA airport ATL airport Return direction ATL → BNA

BNA→ATL

Right now

Route reliability

Why BNA → ATL flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why BNA → ATL runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at BNA

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology