Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids/Iowa City

What the Data Says About MSP to CID

The Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor (MSP → CID) covers roughly 220 miles and is served by 7 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 4,859 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 87.7% on-time rate with an average delay of 81.2 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 1,638 flights were recorded on this pairing — 15 cancelled (0.9%) and 1 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 7 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 4,859 total flights analyzed, the 87.7% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 81.2-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, Aug 2023 posted the best performance on this corridor at 95% on-time, while Jun 2024 came in at 62% on-time — a 33-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the MSP to CID route, the combination of a 87.7% on-time rate, 81.2-minute average delay, 0.9% recent cancellation rate, and 7 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.