Route profile
CHS→ATL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charleston to Atlanta, 259 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 86% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,165 flights. How this is calculated
CHS → ATL arrives on time 87.9% of the time; the return trip, ATL → CHS, arrives on time 82.3% of the time, a 5.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CHS → ATL spends 24.1 minutes on the ground on a 259-mile trip: 15.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CHS and 9.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 91% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 10 min early, and the worst tenth are only 31 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CHS to ATL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CHS to ATL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 81.1% arrive on time, 12.5 points ahead of the 68.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
CHS to ATL holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 89.1% on time to their 76.3%, a 12.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.3 points.
October is kinder to CHS to ATL than to routes of similar length: 94.8% on time against 81.7%, 13.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on CHS to ATL than on its routes of similar length: 87.9% on time here, 81.8% there, 6.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
CHS to ATL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 81.1% | routes of similar length | 68.6% | +12.5 pts | 280 here, 35,302 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 89.1% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | +12.8 pts | 1,364 here, 102,352 there |
| Month: October | 94.8% | routes of similar length | 81.7% | +13.1 pts | 767 here, 60,391 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 87.9% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | +6.1 pts | 9,024 here, 85,239 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 259 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 CHS → ATL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CHS → ATL cancelled 125 of 9,165 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 73. The reason filed most often was the airline, 55.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 133 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 125 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.
69 cancellations, 55.2% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
56 cancellations, 44.8% 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.
125 coded cancellations were recorded on CHS → ATL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
21 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 9,165 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ATL after arriving from CHS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 22% | High risk |
| 45 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.5% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | 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 1.36% 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 9,031 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 21 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,165 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CHS → ATL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.6% of the time, against 79.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 13.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.5% on time from 975 flights
- 6 AM: 92.2% on time from 1,041 flights
- 7 AM: 88.2% on time from 454 flights
- 8 AM: 92.3% on time from 892 flights
- 9 AM: 93.2% on time from 169 flights
- 10 AM: 91.1% on time from 1,001 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 89.3% on time from 954 flights
- 1 PM: 88.9% on time from 155 flights
- 2 PM: 84.8% on time from 829 flights
- 3 PM: 82.8% on time from 346 flights
- 4 PM: 83.2% on time from 495 flights
- 5 PM: 78.8% on time from 551 flights
- 6 PM: 77.7% on time from 638 flights
- 7 PM: 79.9% on time from 271 flights
- 8 PM: 81.1% on time from 283 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CHS → ATL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 CHS → ATL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CHS → ATL, at 38.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 79.0%.
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 | 9,158 | 87.9% | 1.36% | -10 min | 4.6% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL3055 (5:35 AM) arrived on time 94.8% of the time, 4.3 points more often than DL1664 (8:00 AM) at 90.5%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.6%
- Feb: 90.8%
- Mar: 87.8%
- Apr: 88.3%
- May: 83.4%
- Jun: 86.1%
- Jul: 77.6%
- Aug: 88.2%
- Sep: 91.9%
- Oct: 94.8%
- Nov: 93.6%
- Dec: 89.4%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.8% from 253 flights
- August 2023: 86.0% from 230 flights
- September 2023: 90.1% from 232 flights
- October 2023: 96.6% from 237 flights
- November 2023: 96.8% from 218 flights
- December 2023: 95.3% from 213 flights
- January 2024: 87.6% from 202 flights
- February 2024: 91.5% from 189 flights
- March 2024: 88.5% from 226 flights
- April 2024: 85.0% from 227 flights
- May 2024: 78.4% from 232 flights
- June 2024: 86.4% from 250 flights
- July 2024: 66.5% from 256 flights
- August 2024: 89.6% from 249 flights
- September 2024: 89.2% from 241 flights
- October 2024: 96.0% from 253 flights
- November 2024: 92.1% from 228 flights
- December 2024: 83.5% from 237 flights
- January 2025: 86.2% from 214 flights
- February 2025: 87.7% from 204 flights
- March 2025: 88.1% from 256 flights
- April 2025: 88.2% from 256 flights
- May 2025: 83.7% from 282 flights
- June 2025: 80.1% from 277 flights
- July 2025: 83.9% from 282 flights
- August 2025: 88.8% from 254 flights
- September 2025: 96.2% from 239 flights
- October 2025: 92.1% from 279 flights
- November 2025: 92.2% from 263 flights
- December 2025: 90.0% from 263 flights
- January 2026: 91.3% from 247 flights
- February 2026: 93.0% from 234 flights
- March 2026: 86.9% from 286 flights
- April 2026: 91.1% from 294 flights
- May 2026: 87.1% from 290 flights
- June 2026: 91.4% from 282 flights
- July 2026: 76.8% from 290 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 89.5% against 87.2% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,165 CHS → 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
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