Route profile
MKE→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Milwaukee to Charlotte, 651 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 24% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,142 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MKE → CLT arrives on time 76.7% of the time; the return trip, CLT → MKE, arrives on time 72.6% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MKE → CLT spends 30.2 minutes on the ground on a 651-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MKE and 15.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where MKE to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MKE to CLT struggles most at 6 AM: 82.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.8 points behind the 90.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
Tuesday is the day MKE to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.4% on time where they average 81.4%, 5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
In January, MKE to CLT runs 7.9 points below routes of similar length, 71.2% on time to 79.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.9 points.
American Airlines does better on MKE to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 77.9% on time here, 74.2% there, 3.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.8 points.
MKE to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | −7.8 pts | 394 here, 153,620 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 76.4% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | −5.0 pts | 419 here, 289,974 there |
| Month: January | 71.2% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | −7.9 pts | 215 here, 151,350 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 77.9% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +3.7 pts | 2,647 here, 319,492 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.
MKE to CLT in context
This route against MKE and CLT as a whole, against similar routes from MKE, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving MKE, MKE to CLT is on time 76.7% of the time, 4.2 points worse than the airport’s other departures at MKE (80.9%, from 83,124 flights).
Arriving at CLT, MKE to CLT is on time 76.7% of the time, 3 points worse than the airport’s other arrivals at CLT (79.7%, from 603,464 flights).
MKE to CLT cancels 1.69% of its scheduled flights, 0.88 points below the 2.57% on 6 other routes from MKE of similar length (within 15% of 651 miles).
MKE to CLT arrived on time 79.5% of the time in its latest twelve months (August 2025 to July 2026), 4.1 points above the 75.4% of its first twelve (July 2023 to June 2024).
Of the 2,738 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 6 PM is the busiest hour with 742 (27.1%), 67.3% of them on time, and 4 PM the quietest with 153 (5.6%), 64.6% 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.
Why MKE → CLT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MKE → CLT cancelled 53 of 3,142 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 59. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 83.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 71 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 53 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.
44 cancellations, 83.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
9 cancellations, 17.0% 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.
53 coded cancellations were recorded on MKE → CLT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,142 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from MKE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.8% | 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 1.69% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,083 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,142 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MKE → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.6% of the time, against 67.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 82.7% on time from 401 flights
- 7 AM: 83.5% on time from 630 flights
- 8 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 74.7% on time from 166 flights
- 1 PM: 77.9% on time from 266 flights
- 2 PM: 74.8% on time from 380 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 64.6% on time from 153 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 67.3% on time from 742 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MKE → CLT runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 MKE → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 77.9% | 1.38% | -6 min | 8.5% |
| PSA Airlines | 451 | 69.7% | 3.55% | 0 min | 10.3% |
American Airlines flew 85.6% of the 3,141 flights listed. PSA Airlines cancelled 3.55% of its flights here against 1.38% for American Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 8.2 percentage points more often than PSA 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 7.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.2%
- Feb: 78.1%
- Mar: 79.5%
- Apr: 79.8%
- May: 73.3%
- Jun: 71.5%
- Jul: 70.1%
- Aug: 75.8%
- Sep: 82.6%
- Oct: 87.4%
- Nov: 78.7%
- Dec: 74.0%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.5% against 77.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,142 MKE → CLT 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