Chicago to Kansas City

What the Data Says About MDW to MCI

The Chicago to Kansas City corridor (MDW → MCI) covers roughly 405 miles and is served by 1 carrier, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 11,922 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.2% on-time rate with an average delay of 55.7 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,295 flights were recorded on this pairing — 58 cancelled (1.4%) and 9 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 1 carrier on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 11,922 total flights analyzed, the 80.2% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 55.7-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 93% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 67% on-time — a 26-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the MDW to MCI route, the combination of a 80.2% on-time rate, 55.7-minute average delay, 1.4% recent cancellation rate, and 1 available carrier is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.