Route profile
MSP→CMH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to Columbus, 626 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 71% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,268 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSP → CMH arrives on time 81.9% of the time; the return trip, CMH → MSP, arrives on time 86.1% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSP → CMH spends 24.9 minutes on the ground on a 626-mile trip: 18.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at CMH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 97% of 4,467 comparable routes.
84.0% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 80.3% on the worst (Thursday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MSP to CMH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to CMH is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 85.5% arrive on time, 17.5 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.7 points.
MSP to CMH struggles most at 7 AM: 84.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 2.9 points behind the 87.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.2 points.
MSP to CMH holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 81.8% on time to their 74.9%, a 6.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
May is kinder to MSP to CMH than to routes of similar length: 83.2% on time against 74.6%, 8.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
MSP to CMH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 85.5% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +17.5 pts | 214 here, 120,900 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 84.6% | routes of similar length | 87.5% | −2.9 pts | 710 here, 146,878 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 81.8% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | +6.9 pts | 468 here, 305,738 there |
| Month: May | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | +8.6 pts | 321 here, 175,892 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 626 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
39 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 3,268 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CMH after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.8% | 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 0.67% of the time and diverts 0.12% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,242 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,268 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → CMH flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.3% of the time, against 64.5% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 22.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 84.6% on time from 713 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 87.2% on time from 482 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 85.2% on time from 238 flights
- 1 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 76.8% on time from 504 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 85.5% on time from 215 flights
- 8 PM: 81.6% on time from 538 flights
- 9 PM: 64.5% on time from 325 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSP → CMH 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSP → CMH. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,059 | 80.4% | 1.02% | -8 min | 7.9% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 999 | 83.7% | 0.10% | -6 min | 5.4% |
| Endeavor Air | 210 | 87.1% | 0.00% | -9 min | 2.9% |
Delta Air Lines flew 63.0% of the 3,268 flights listed. Delta Air Lines cancelled 1.02% of its flights here against 0.00% for Endeavor Air.
Endeavor Air arrived on time 6.7 percentage points more often than Delta Air Lines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1356 Delta Air Lines | 8:15 PM | 649 | 74.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 3.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.5%
- Feb: 80.2%
- Mar: 81.3%
- Apr: 86.1%
- May: 83.2%
- Jun: 76.6%
- Jul: 76.2%
- Aug: 83.3%
- Sep: 87.1%
- Oct: 89.0%
- Nov: 86.0%
- Dec: 77.3%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 12.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2023: 91.7% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (98)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (81)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (36)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (29)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (51)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (56)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (48)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (32)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (21)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (28)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (68)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (59)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (113)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.9% against 80.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,268 MSP → CMH 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