Nashville to Chicago

What the Data Says About BNA to ORD

The Nashville to Chicago corridor (BNA → ORD) covers roughly 409 miles and is served by 49 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 26,402 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.1% on-time rate with an average delay of 85.8 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 9,629 flights were recorded on this pairing — 162 cancelled (1.7%) and 21 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 49 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 26,402 total flights analyzed, the 80.1% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 85.8-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, Feb 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 91% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 58% on-time — a 33-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the BNA to ORD route, the combination of a 80.1% on-time rate, 85.8-minute average delay, 1.7% recent cancellation rate, and 49 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.