Routes › Milwaukee (MKE) › MKE to MDW
Route · 12 months to July 2026
Milwaukee to Chicago: on-time record
General Mitchell International to Chicago Midway International
BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.
In the 12 months to July 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 298 flights from Milwaukee (MKE) to Chicago (MDW), a distance of 80 miles. 69.5% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.
That is 6.5 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 6.7 points below the 76.2% recorded for all departures from MKE. Flights that did arrive were 5.5 min late on average, and 1.7% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 298 flights in the period.
By scheduled departure hour (local time at MKE), flights leaving from 6 am to 7 am had the highest on-time share, 96.2%; those leaving from 5 pm to 6 pm had the lowest, 34.1%.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 44%, national aviation system 28% and extreme weather 20%.
- On time 69.5%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 27.5%
- Cancelled 1.7%
- Diverted 1.3%
Airlines on the route compared
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WN Southwest Airlines | 298 | 100% | 69.5% | 5.5 min | 1.7% |
Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.
Compared with the airports and the nation
| Measure | MKE to MDW | All departures from MKE | All arrivals at MDW | All reported flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 69.5% | 76.2% | 75.7% | 76.0% |
| Arrived 15+ minutes late | 27.5% | 21.2% | 22.2% | 21.9% |
| Cancelled | 1.7% | 2.3% | 1.5% | 1.8% |
| Diverted | 1.3% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| Average arrival delay | 5.5 min | 8.8 min | 7.3 min | 8.1 min |
| Delay minutes per 100 flights | 1,430 | 1,810 | 1,360 | 1,684 |
| Scheduled flights | 298 | 29,355 | 73,756 | 7,043,858 |
12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.
The return direction, MDW to MKE, recorded 67.1% on time across 298 flights in the same period.
Month by month
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Seasonality
| Calendar month | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay | Years in sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar | 54 | 51.9% | 7.4% | 25.2 min | 1 |
| Apr | 60 | 75.0% | 1.7% | 1.6 min | 1 |
| May | 62 | 77.4% | 0.0% | -5.2 min | 1 |
| Jun | 60 | 70.0% | 0.0% | 4.1 min | 1 |
| Jul | 62 | 71.0% | 0.0% | 5.4 min | 1 |
Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.
Other routes from Milwaukee (MKE)
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MKE–ORD | Milwaukee to Chicago | 5,268 | 65.4% | 21.9 min | 4.5% |
| MKE–DEN | Milwaukee to Denver | 2,322 | 78.4% | 5.5 min | 0.4% |
| MKE–ATL | Milwaukee to Atlanta | 2,264 | 86.4% | -5.1 min | 2.0% |
| MKE–MSP | Milwaukee to Minneapolis | 1,559 | 81.0% | 6.5 min | 1.0% |
| MKE–DTW | Milwaukee to Detroit | 1,498 | 78.3% | 12.9 min | 1.4% |
| MKE–PHX | Milwaukee to Phoenix | 1,453 | 78.0% | 8.9 min | 0.9% |
| MKE–MCO | Milwaukee to Orlando | 1,420 | 76.5% | 7.0 min | 1.2% |
| MKE–DCA | Milwaukee to Washington | 1,346 | 71.4% | 17.2 min | 3.4% |
All 35 routes and the airport record for MKE · airport record for MDW
Questions and answers
How often are flights from Milwaukee to Chicago on time?
69.5% of the 298 flights scheduled from MKE to MDW in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.
Which airline has the highest on-time share from MKE to MDW?
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier with at least 60 flights on the route in the period, so there is no comparison to make.
What causes delays between Milwaukee and Chicago?
For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 44%, national aviation system 28%, extreme weather 20%, air carrier 8%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.
What time of day has the highest on-time share from MKE?
Flights scheduled to leave MKE from 6 am to 7 am arrived on time 96.2% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 5 pm to 6 pm at 34.1%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.
Is it getting better?
The route does not have enough flights in the previous 12 months for a year-on-year comparison. The monthly chart on this page shows the months that are available.
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.
Provenance
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.