Route profile
RSW→ATL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Myers to Atlanta, 515 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 9,511 flights. How this is calculated
RSW → ATL arrives on time 85.8% of the time; the return trip, ATL → RSW, arrives on time 77.8% of the time, an 8.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
RSW → ATL spends 24.5 minutes on the ground on a 515-mile trip: 14.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at RSW and 9.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 96% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Southwest Airlines (87.2% on time) and Delta Air Lines (86.3%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where RSW to ATL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
RSW to ATL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 81.4% arrive on time, 10.1 points ahead of the 71.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.6 points.
RSW to ATL holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.1% on time to their 78.0%, a 9.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
June is kinder to RSW to ATL than to routes of similar length: 87.4% on time against 74.2%, 13.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on RSW to ATL than on its routes of similar length: 87.2% on time here, 78.3% there, 8.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
RSW to ATL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 71.3% | +10.1 pts | 757 here, 110,315 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 87.1% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | +9.1 pts | 1,378 here, 221,097 there |
| Month: June | 87.4% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +13.2 pts | 676 here, 121,993 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | +8.9 pts | 850 here, 391,991 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 515 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 RSW → ATL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
RSW → ATL cancelled 139 of 9,511 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 68. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 55.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 124 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 139 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.
77 cancellations, 55.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
61 cancellations, 43.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 0.7% 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.
139 coded cancellations were recorded on RSW → ATL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
27 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 9,511 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ATL after arriving from RSW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 9.3% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.7% | 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 1.46% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,353 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 9,511 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
RSW → ATL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.4% of the time, against 75.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 17.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.9% on time from 1,246 flights
- 6 AM: 93.3% on time from 878 flights
- 7 AM: 93.5% on time from 607 flights
- 8 AM: 91.2% on time from 748 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 88.8% on time from 512 flights
- 11 AM: 87.7% on time from 696 flights
- 12 PM: 79.5% on time from 343 flights
- 1 PM: 81.9% on time from 849 flights
- 2 PM: 79.6% on time from 272 flights
- 3 PM: 82.7% on time from 789 flights
- 4 PM: 78.8% on time from 492 flights
- 5 PM: 81.4% on time from 774 flights
- 6 PM: 77.5% on time from 562 flights
- 7 PM: 73.7% on time from 587 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why RSW → ATL 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 RSW → ATL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on RSW → ATL, at 40.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.4% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 75.6%.
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 | 8,409 | 86.3% | 1.47% | -10 min | 5.7% |
| Southwest Airlines | 862 | 87.2% | 1.04% | -8 min | 3.3% |
Delta Air Lines flew 90.7% of the 9,271 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1385 (5:35 AM) arrived on time 94.5% of the time, 3.8 points more often than DL1395 (8:00 AM) at 90.7%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.7%
- Feb: 86.6%
- Mar: 80.6%
- Apr: 86.3%
- May: 84.4%
- Jun: 87.4%
- Jul: 78.7%
- Aug: 86.3%
- Sep: 91.4%
- Oct: 93.1%
- Nov: 90.7%
- Dec: 84.9%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 14.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 84.1% from 248 flights
- August 2023: 84.8% from 243 flights
- September 2023: 93.0% from 227 flights
- October 2023: 94.5% from 236 flights
- November 2023: 88.2% from 281 flights
- December 2023: 87.3% from 346 flights
- January 2024: 87.5% from 331 flights
- February 2024: 91.2% from 306 flights
- March 2024: 84.4% from 367 flights
- April 2024: 86.1% from 311 flights
- May 2024: 81.5% from 283 flights
- June 2024: 88.8% from 242 flights
- July 2024: 69.1% from 243 flights
- August 2024: 83.2% from 243 flights
- September 2024: 88.3% from 224 flights
- October 2024: 93.4% from 230 flights
- November 2024: 94.9% from 236 flights
- December 2024: 83.1% from 273 flights
- January 2025: 83.5% from 279 flights
- February 2025: 86.1% from 259 flights
- March 2025: 79.9% from 310 flights
- April 2025: 87.3% from 257 flights
- May 2025: 84.2% from 241 flights
- June 2025: 82.7% from 236 flights
- July 2025: 80.8% from 243 flights
- August 2025: 91.3% from 223 flights
- September 2025: 93.0% from 200 flights
- October 2025: 91.3% from 210 flights
- November 2025: 89.3% from 226 flights
- December 2025: 83.4% from 252 flights
- January 2026: 82.2% from 260 flights
- February 2026: 81.4% from 250 flights
- March 2026: 76.4% from 283 flights
- April 2026: 85.5% from 249 flights
- May 2026: 87.9% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 91.0% from 213 flights
- July 2026: 80.4% from 216 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.7% against 85.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,511 RSW → ATL 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