Route profile
CLT→MKE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Milwaukee, 651 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 17% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,141 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → MKE arrives on time 72.6% of the time; the return trip, MKE → CLT, arrives on time 76.7% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → MKE spends 24.5 minutes on the ground on a 651-mile trip: 19.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at MKE.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.4% on time in a typical November, against 57.6% in July.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to MKE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to MKE is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 74.8% arrive on time, 7.1 points ahead of the 67.7% those routes manage at that hour.
CLT to MKE struggles most at 10 PM: 64.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.9 points behind the 68.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
Sunday is the day CLT to MKE slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.7% on time where they average 74.7%, 10 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
In July, CLT to MKE runs 11.5 points below routes of similar length, 57.6% on time to 69.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to MKE arrive on time 72.2% of the time, 2 points below the 74.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 2.9 points.
CLT to MKE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 74.8% | routes of similar length | 67.7% | +7.1 pts | 218 here, 69,414 there |
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 64.7% | routes of similar length | 68.6% | −3.9 pts | 635 here, 48,242 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 64.7% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | −10.0 pts | 464 here, 308,738 there |
| Month: July | 57.6% | routes of similar length | 69.1% | −11.5 pts | 342 here, 235,354 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 72.2% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | −2.0 pts | 2,648 here, 319,491 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 651 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
59 min late
against a median of 2 min early
CLT → MKE has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 61 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 3,141 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MKE after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.1% | Some 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 1.50% of the time and diverts 0.32% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,084 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 59 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,141 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → MKE flights departing 12–3 PM arrived on time 79.9% of the time, against 66.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 13.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 78.7% on time from 472 flights
- 12 PM: 82.4% on time from 293 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 76.0% on time from 204 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 68.2% on time from 777 flights
- 5 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 63.9% on time from 145 flights
- 9 PM: 74.8% on time from 218 flights
- 10 PM: 64.7% on time from 662 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → MKE 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 CLT → MKE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → MKE, at 51.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 12–3 PM departures arrived on time 79.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.5%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,690 | 72.2% | 1.30% | -2 min | 10.2% |
| PSA Airlines | 450 | 74.7% | 2.67% | -2 min | 7.4% |
American Airlines flew 85.7% of the 3,140 flights listed. PSA Airlines cancelled 2.67% of its flights here against 1.30% for American Airlines.
PSA Airlines arrived on time 2.5 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.3%
- Feb: 79.0%
- Mar: 71.3%
- Apr: 70.7%
- May: 68.8%
- Jun: 66.8%
- Jul: 57.6%
- Aug: 67.2%
- Sep: 79.5%
- Oct: 82.8%
- Nov: 86.4%
- Dec: 72.7%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 28.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.9% against 71.8% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,141 CLT → MKE 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