Chicago to Cedar Rapids/Iowa City

What the Data Says About ORD to CID

The Chicago to Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor (ORD → CID) covers roughly 196 miles and is served by 28 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 10,759 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 78.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 78.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,407 flights were recorded on this pairing — 104 cancelled (2.4%) and 12 diverted (0.3%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 28 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 10,759 total flights analyzed, the 78.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 78.1-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, Mar 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 89% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 54% on-time — a 35-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the ORD to CID route, the combination of a 78.5% on-time rate, 78.1-minute average delay, 2.4% recent cancellation rate, and 28 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.