Route profile
SLC→ATL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Atlanta, 1,590 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 91% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,235 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → ATL arrives on time 85.5% of the time; the return trip, ATL → SLC, arrives on time 83.5% of the time, a 2.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → ATL spends 25.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,590-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 8.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SLC to ATL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to ATL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 81.5% arrive on time, 11.3 points ahead of the 70.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.7 points.
SLC to ATL holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 86.2% on time to their 77.0%, a 9.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
June is kinder to SLC to ATL than to routes of similar length: 82.6% on time against 71.8%, 10.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SLC to ATL than on its routes of similar length: 85.6% on time here, 82.5% there, 3.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
SLC to ATL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 70.2% | +11.3 pts | 974 here, 107,875 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 86.2% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +9.2 pts | 1,340 here, 237,442 there |
| Month: June | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | +10.8 pts | 717 here, 139,167 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 85.6% | routes of similar length | 82.5% | +3.1 pts | 9,093 here, 305,058 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 1,590 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 SLC → ATL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SLC → ATL cancelled 53 of 9,235 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 174. The reason filed most often was the airline, 52.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 330 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 53 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
28 cancellations, 52.8% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
25 cancellations, 47.2% 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 SLC → ATL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
26 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 9,235 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ATL after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 28% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.8% | 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 0.57% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,153 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 26 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,235 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → ATL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.3% of the time, against 72.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 83.3% on time from 200 flights
- 1 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.1% on time from 497 flights
- 7 AM: 93.9% on time from 645 flights
- 8 AM: 89.0% on time from 1,123 flights
- 9 AM: 87.7% on time from 1,063 flights
- 10 AM: 89.4% on time from 142 flights
- 11 AM: 84.3% on time from 1,076 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 84.2% on time from 791 flights
- 2 PM: 82.1% on time from 343 flights
- 3 PM: 80.4% on time from 1,138 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 81.5% on time from 981 flights
- 6 PM: 72.1% on time from 149 flights
- 7 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 85.0% on time from 1,018 flights
Why SLC → ATL 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 SLC → ATL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 9,174 | 85.6% | 0.57% | -10 min | 4.4% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL905 Delta Air Lines | 5:45 PM | 988 | 80.2% |
| DL907 Delta Air Lines | 7:00 AM | 874 | 90.5% |
| DL912 Delta Air Lines | 11:35 PM | 847 | 83.0% |
| DL885 Delta Air Lines | 11:00 AM | 785 | 83.9% |
| DL897 Delta Air Lines | 8:00 AM | 785 | 88.0% |
| DL906 Delta Air Lines | 1:20 PM | 748 | 83.2% |
| DL875 Delta Air Lines | 3:45 PM | 676 | 79.7% |
DL907 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 90.5% of the time, 10.8 points more often than DL875 (3:45 PM) at 79.7%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.0%
- Feb: 88.1%
- Mar: 83.4%
- Apr: 83.5%
- May: 85.0%
- Jun: 82.6%
- Jul: 77.1%
- Aug: 83.7%
- Sep: 88.2%
- Oct: 92.2%
- Nov: 90.8%
- Dec: 89.9%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.4% from 289 flights
- August 2023: 82.5% from 291 flights
- September 2023: 88.8% from 260 flights
- October 2023: 96.0% from 250 flights
- November 2023: 94.8% from 232 flights
- December 2023: 95.0% from 240 flights
- January 2024: 80.4% from 260 flights
- February 2024: 88.8% from 241 flights
- March 2024: 81.6% from 261 flights
- April 2024: 86.6% from 261 flights
- May 2024: 84.8% from 252 flights
- June 2024: 85.0% from 241 flights
- July 2024: 74.7% from 249 flights
- August 2024: 85.0% from 248 flights
- September 2024: 84.3% from 243 flights
- October 2024: 88.4% from 249 flights
- November 2024: 91.2% from 238 flights
- December 2024: 86.7% from 249 flights
- January 2025: 89.3% from 251 flights
- February 2025: 83.3% from 228 flights
- March 2025: 84.3% from 250 flights
- April 2025: 76.7% from 241 flights
- May 2025: 84.2% from 249 flights
- June 2025: 73.1% from 241 flights
- July 2025: 81.4% from 249 flights
- August 2025: 83.9% from 250 flights
- September 2025: 91.3% from 241 flights
- October 2025: 92.1% from 253 flights
- November 2025: 86.7% from 242 flights
- December 2025: 88.0% from 252 flights
- January 2026: 85.7% from 259 flights
- February 2026: 92.1% from 229 flights
- March 2026: 84.3% from 255 flights
- April 2026: 86.9% from 251 flights
- May 2026: 85.9% from 249 flights
- June 2026: 89.5% from 242 flights
- July 2026: 73.6% from 249 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.6% against 84.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,235 SLC → 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