Route profile
ORD→CHS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Charleston, 760 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 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,110 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ORD → CHS arrives on time 80.4% of the time; the return trip, CHS → ORD, arrives on time 81.5% of the time.
ORD → CHS spends 34.0 minutes on the ground on a 760-mile trip: 26.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 7.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at CHS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 94% of 3,357 comparable routes.
84.7% on time in its best month (September) against 74.4% in its worst (July).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ORD to CHS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ORD to CHS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 78.6% arrive on time, 10.3 points ahead of the 68.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
ORD to CHS struggles most at 9 AM: 77.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.9 points behind the 85.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
ORD to CHS holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 79.8% on time to their 76.0%, a 3.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
June is kinder to ORD to CHS than to routes of similar length: 82.3% on time against 71.9%, 10.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
Republic Airways does better on ORD to CHS than on its routes of similar length: 87.3% on time here, 81.8% there, 5.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
ORD to CHS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 78.6% | routes of similar length | 68.3% | +10.3 pts | 140 here, 130,250 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 77.1% | routes of similar length | 85.0% | −7.9 pts | 258 here, 120,527 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 79.8% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +3.8 pts | 751 here, 335,088 there |
| Month: June | 82.3% | routes of similar length | 71.9% | +10.4 pts | 498 here, 187,276 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 87.3% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | +5.5 pts | 1,260 here, 111,101 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 760 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 ORD → CHS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ORD → CHS cancelled 78 of 5,110 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 66. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 65.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 100 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 78 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.
51 cancellations, 65.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
19 cancellations, 24.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
8 cancellations, 10.3% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
78 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → CHS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
39 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 5,110 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CHS after arriving from ORD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 1.53% 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 5,026 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 5,110 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ORD → CHS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 70.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 15.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 90.2% on time from 853 flights
- 8 AM: 80.2% on time from 710 flights
- 9 AM: 77.1% on time from 260 flights
- 10 AM: 87.9% on time from 1,121 flights
- 11 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 83.8% on time from 164 flights
- 2 PM: 76.7% on time from 210 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 68.2% on time from 251 flights
- 5 PM: 78.6% on time from 144 flights
- 6 PM: 71.7% on time from 814 flights
- 7 PM: 65.4% on time from 165 flights
- 8 PM: 68.3% on time from 200 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why ORD → 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
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ORD → CHS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ORD → CHS, at 44.5%: 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 70.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 1,908 | 78.7% | 1.21% | -4 min | 7.1% |
| Republic Airways | 1,285 | 87.3% | 1.79% | -15 min | 3.6% |
| Envoy Air | 1,274 | 78.1% | 1.81% | -6 min | 5.4% |
| American Airlines | 346 | 74.4% | 1.73% | -8 min | 10.6% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 296 | 78.5% | 1.01% | -6 min | 9.2% |
United Airlines flew 37.3% of the 5,109 flights listed.
Republic Airways arrived on time 12.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.4%
- Feb: 82.8%
- Mar: 76.2%
- Apr: 81.5%
- May: 78.8%
- Jun: 82.3%
- Jul: 74.4%
- Aug: 81.6%
- Sep: 84.7%
- Oct: 82.9%
- Nov: 84.4%
- Dec: 83.2%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 10.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.6% from 128 flights
- August 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (111)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (105)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- April 2024: 87.4% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 78.7% from 122 flights
- June 2024: 88.0% from 135 flights
- July 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2024: 89.2% from 120 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- March 2025: 83.4% from 151 flights
- April 2025: 87.7% from 150 flights
- May 2025: 80.8% from 157 flights
- June 2025: 81.0% from 169 flights
- July 2025: 65.3% from 171 flights
- August 2025: 83.5% from 138 flights
- September 2025: 84.1% from 145 flights
- October 2025: 80.8% from 177 flights
- November 2025: 77.6% from 178 flights
- December 2025: 73.1% from 172 flights
- January 2026: 68.3% from 145 flights
- February 2026: 76.8% from 151 flights
- March 2026: 66.7% from 210 flights
- April 2026: 72.9% from 194 flights
- May 2026: 77.3% from 208 flights
- June 2026: 79.7% from 202 flights
- July 2026: 79.2% from 186 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.4% against 82.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,110 ORD → 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