Billings to Chicago

What the Data Says About BIL to ORD

The Billings to Chicago corridor (BIL → ORD) covers roughly 1,060 miles and is served by 3 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 632 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 78.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 89.6 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 632 flights were recorded on this pairing — 1 cancelled (0.2%) and 6 diverted (0.9%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 3 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 632 total flights analyzed, the 78.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 89.6-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 85% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 70% on-time — a 15-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the BIL to ORD route, the combination of a 78.5% on-time rate, 89.6-minute average delay, 0.2% recent cancellation rate, and 3 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.