Route profile
OMA→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Omaha to Chicago, 423 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 80% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,395 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
OMA → MDW arrives on time 83.0% of the time; the return trip, MDW → OMA, arrives on time 77.0% of the time, a 5.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
OMA → MDW spends 15.9 minutes on the ground on a 423-mile trip: 11.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at OMA and 4.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where OMA to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
OMA to MDW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 89.4% arrive on time, 11.1 points ahead of the 78.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.3 points.
OMA to MDW struggles most at 4 PM: 64.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.9 points behind the 71.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
OMA to MDW holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 85.2% on time to their 74.8%, a 10.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.4 points.
February is kinder to OMA to MDW than to routes of similar length: 91.2% on time against 81.6%, 9.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on OMA to MDW than on its routes of similar length: 83.0% on time here, 78.5% there, 4.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
OMA to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 89.4% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | +11.1 pts | 235 here, 94,228 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 64.5% | routes of similar length | 71.4% | −6.9 pts | 355 here, 88,759 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +10.4 pts | 657 here, 233,906 there |
| Month: February | 91.2% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +9.6 pts | 249 here, 110,373 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 83.0% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | +4.5 pts | 4,327 here, 542,245 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 423 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.
OMA to MDW in context
This route against OMA and MDW as a whole, against similar routes from OMA, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Arriving at MDW, OMA to MDW is on time 83.0% of the time, 3.5 points better than the airport’s other arrivals at MDW (79.5%, from 232,103 flights).
Of the 4,128 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 5 AM is the busiest hour with 571 (13.8%), 92.4% of them on time, and 5 PM the quietest with 122 (3.0%), 76.7% 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 OMA → MDW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
OMA → MDW cancelled 57 of 4,395 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 77. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 82.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 94 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 57 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.
47 cancellations, 82.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
8 cancellations, 14.0% 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, 3.5% 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.
57 coded cancellations were recorded on OMA → MDW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
27 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 4,395 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from OMA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.3% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.3% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.4% | 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 1.30% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,327 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 27 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,395 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
OMA → MDW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.5% of the time, against 69.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.4% on time from 571 flights
- 6 AM: 88.8% on time from 356 flights
- 7 AM: 87.3% on time from 239 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 87.0% on time from 451 flights
- 11 AM: 89.5% on time from 391 flights
- 12 PM: 86.4% on time from 239 flights
- 1 PM: 89.4% on time from 244 flights
- 2 PM: 82.1% on time from 254 flights
- 3 PM: 78.9% on time from 454 flights
- 4 PM: 64.5% on time from 361 flights
- 5 PM: 76.7% on time from 122 flights
- 6 PM: 75.3% on time from 310 flights
- 7 PM: 66.7% on time from 136 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why OMA → MDW 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 OMA → MDW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on OMA → MDW, at 58.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 69.9%.
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 | 4,395 | 83.0% | 1.30% | -6 min | 4.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.6%
- Feb: 91.2%
- Mar: 85.8%
- Apr: 85.8%
- May: 75.0%
- Jun: 75.8%
- Jul: 76.4%
- Aug: 85.0%
- Sep: 87.1%
- Oct: 84.4%
- Nov: 88.1%
- Dec: 82.5%
May is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 16.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.9% from 160 flights
- August 2023: 86.2% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 85.1% from 135 flights
- October 2023: 84.1% from 138 flights
- November 2023: 85.2% from 122 flights
- December 2023: 81.1% from 127 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2024: 90.3% from 124 flights
- May 2024: 69.5% from 133 flights
- June 2024: 74.6% from 131 flights
- July 2024: 75.2% from 134 flights
- August 2024: 88.0% from 125 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2024: 87.9% from 125 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (77)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2025: 78.0% from 142 flights
- July 2025: 75.2% from 149 flights
- August 2025: 80.5% from 125 flights
- September 2025: 84.9% from 120 flights
- October 2025: 81.3% from 123 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- December 2025: 77.5% from 120 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (119)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.2% against 86.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,395 OMA → MDW 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