Route profile
CMH→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Columbus to Dallas–Fort Worth, 926 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 34% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,403 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CMH → DFW arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, DFW → CMH, arrives on time 72.2% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CMH → DFW spends 30.8 minutes on the ground on a 926-mile trip: 16.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CMH and 14.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
79.9% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 79.8% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 CMH to DFW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CMH to DFW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 78.0% arrive on time, 9.5 points ahead of the 68.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
CMH to DFW struggles most at 7 AM: 83.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.4 points behind the 88.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
July is kinder to CMH to DFW than to routes of similar length: 77.2% on time against 68.4%, 8.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
In April, CMH to DFW runs 6.4 points below routes of similar length, 73.4% on time to 79.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
Envoy Air does better on CMH to DFW than on its routes of similar length: 85.1% on time here, 79.5% there, 5.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
CMH to DFW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 78.0% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | +9.5 pts | 177 here, 153,854 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 88.5% | −5.4 pts | 935 here, 229,573 there |
| Month: July | 77.2% | routes of similar length | 68.4% | +8.8 pts | 636 here, 319,482 there |
| Month: April | 73.4% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −6.4 pts | 399 here, 240,974 there |
| Airline: Envoy Air | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | +5.6 pts | 1,211 here, 34,766 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 926 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 CMH → DFW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CMH → DFW cancelled 111 of 5,403 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 49. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 82.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 59 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 111 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.
91 cancellations, 82.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
18 cancellations, 16.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 1.8% 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.
111 coded cancellations were recorded on CMH → DFW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
46 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 5,403 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from CMH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.8% | 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 2.05% of the time and diverts 0.46% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,267 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,403 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CMH → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 66.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 88.2% on time from 971 flights
- 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 83.1% on time from 952 flights
- 8 AM: 86.4% on time from 162 flights
- 9 AM: 81.1% on time from 135 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 83.6% on time from 899 flights
- 12 PM: 76.2% on time from 173 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 73.7% on time from 251 flights
- 3 PM: 76.3% on time from 557 flights
- 4 PM: 78.0% on time from 181 flights
- 5 PM: 72.9% on time from 273 flights
- 6 PM: 72.0% on time from 130 flights
- 7 PM: 64.5% on time from 526 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CMH → DFW 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 CMH → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CMH → DFW, at 41.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.7% 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 | 4,148 | 78.5% | 2.56% | -9 min | 9.1% |
| Envoy Air | 1,219 | 85.1% | 0.16% | -11 min | 5.0% |
American Airlines flew 77.3% of the 5,367 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.56% of its flights here against 0.16% for Envoy Air.
Envoy Air arrived on time 6.6 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.7%
- Feb: 84.6%
- Mar: 80.9%
- Apr: 73.4%
- May: 70.9%
- Jun: 75.1%
- Jul: 77.2%
- Aug: 80.1%
- Sep: 86.7%
- Oct: 86.7%
- Nov: 87.5%
- Dec: 82.3%
May is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.9% from 185 flights
- August 2023: 79.7% from 186 flights
- September 2023: 89.0% from 163 flights
- October 2023: 84.8% from 147 flights
- November 2023: 87.9% from 141 flights
- December 2023: 96.7% from 123 flights
- January 2024: 73.0% from 125 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2024: 78.2% from 127 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- May 2024: 68.4% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 82.3% from 143 flights
- July 2024: 79.5% from 164 flights
- August 2024: 85.1% from 183 flights
- September 2024: 83.4% from 157 flights
- October 2024: 91.7% from 169 flights
- November 2024: 90.3% from 148 flights
- December 2024: 83.1% from 146 flights
- January 2025: 75.0% from 135 flights
- February 2025: 81.5% from 120 flights
- March 2025: 81.6% from 151 flights
- April 2025: 71.4% from 147 flights
- May 2025: 68.5% from 154 flights
- June 2025: 69.9% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 73.8% from 153 flights
- August 2025: 74.1% from 140 flights
- September 2025: 87.8% from 127 flights
- October 2025: 82.9% from 155 flights
- November 2025: 84.4% from 157 flights
- December 2025: 70.3% from 158 flights
- January 2026: 76.1% from 126 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- March 2026: 82.5% from 147 flights
- April 2026: 79.2% from 146 flights
- May 2026: 75.3% from 152 flights
- June 2026: 73.0% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 88.2% from 153 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.9% against 79.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,403 CMH → DFW 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