Route profile
MDW→CHS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Charleston, 745 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 55% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,328 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → CHS arrives on time 76.4% of the time; the return trip, CHS → MDW, arrives on time 85.6% of the time, a 9.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MDW → CHS spends 20.3 minutes on the ground on a 745-mile trip: 13.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 6.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at CHS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where MDW to CHS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to CHS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 82.0% arrive on time, 9.4 points ahead of the 72.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
March is kinder to MDW to CHS than to routes of similar length: 86.1% on time against 78.2%, 7.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
In July, MDW to CHS runs 7.5 points below routes of similar length, 61.2% on time to 68.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
MDW to CHS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 82.0% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | +9.4 pts | 133 here, 115,705 there |
| Month: March | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | +7.9 pts | 122 here, 166,252 there |
| Month: July | 61.2% | routes of similar length | 68.7% | −7.5 pts | 183 here, 227,548 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 745 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.
MDW to CHS in context
This route against MDW and CHS as a whole, against similar routes from MDW, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to CHS cancels 0.75% of its scheduled flights, 1.16 points below the 1.91% on 8 other routes from MDW of similar length (within 15% of 745 miles).
Of the 816 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 7 PM is the busiest hour with 217 (26.6%), 70.4% of them on time, and 8 PM the quietest with 123 (15.1%), 59.5% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 1,328 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CHS after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 0.75% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,314 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,328 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → CHS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.2% of the time, against 66.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 89.1% on time from 165 flights
- 9 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 84.1% on time from 177 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 82.0% on time from 134 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 70.4% on time from 217 flights
- 8 PM: 59.5% on time from 123 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MDW → CHS 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MDW → CHS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MDW → CHS, at 57.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.7%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,328 | 76.4% | 0.75% | -1 min | 6.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 5.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.4% against 78.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,328 MDW → CHS 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