Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) delays & on-time performance
Chicago, Illinois · 87 nonstop destinations · 5 airlines · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
No FAA-reported ground stops or delays at MDW right now. Individual flights can still be delayed by the airline; check with your airline for your flight.
On-time arrivals
75%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
1.5%
1,139 flights
Avg arrival delay
15 min
56 min when late
Departed on time
72%
avg taxi-out 15 min
Figures cover 73,744 departures from MDW; on-time is measured at arrival. Arrivals into MDW were on time 77% of the time.
Key facts
- Flights departing Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) arrived on time 75% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, worse than the 78% national average.
- 1.5% were cancelled, and 7% arrived an hour or more late.
- Departures scheduled around 5am did best (94% on time); around 9pm did worst (57%).
- The largest source of delay minutes was late-arriving aircraft (42%).
Most delayed routes from MDW
Lowest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- SFO · San Francisco48%485 flts
- PDX · Portland62%683 flts
- SEA · Seattle64%678 flts
- OAK · Oakland64%505 flts
- ROC · Rochester67%496 flts
- BOS · Boston67%1,360 flts
- SJC · San Jose69%519 flts
- LGA · New York69%2,385 flts
- SMF · Sacramento69%675 flts
- LAX · Los Angeles69%1,298 flts
Most reliable routes from MDW
Highest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- SDF · Louisville83%978 flts
- IND · Indianapolis83%732 flts
- STL · St. Louis82%1,708 flts
- CMH · Columbus81%1,235 flts
- PIT · Pittsburgh81%1,116 flts
- RDU · Raleigh/Durham81%960 flts
- CLE · Cleveland81%1,109 flts
- MEM · Memphis80%670 flts
- BNA · Nashville80%1,869 flts
- ATL · Atlanta79%3,527 flts
Best airline at MDW
Departures from this airport, ranked by on-time arrival.
| Airline | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Routes | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 87% | 2.8% | 13 min | 1 | 1,362 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 80% | 1.3% | 17 min | 2 | 1,007 |
| Southwest Airlines | 75% | 1.5% | 15 min | 79 | 69,305 |
| Frontier Airlines | 74% | 2.2% | 22 min | 11 | 1,748 |
| Allegiant Air | 71% | 0.3% | 42 min | 7 | 322 |
Best time to fly out of MDW
On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour (local time).
- 5am94%2,387 flts
- 6am89%2,935 flts
- 7am87%5,799 flts
- 8am86%5,145 flts
- 9am85%4,959 flts
- 10am82%6,294 flts
- 11am75%3,160 flts
- 12pm77%4,580 flts
- 1pm78%5,440 flts
- 2pm70%3,538 flts
- 3pm71%3,026 flts
- 4pm69%2,726 flts
- 5pm65%4,207 flts
- 6pm65%6,059 flts
- 7pm65%3,819 flts
- 8pm69%4,403 flts
- 9pm57%4,472 flts
- 10pm53%795 flts
Monthly trend
Why departures were late
- Late-arriving aircraft42%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)33%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion20%
- Extreme weather4%
- Security0%
Data: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 (12 months). Latest month published by BTS: July 2026. How we calculate this.