Chicago to Wilmington

What the Data Says About ORD to ILM

The Chicago to Wilmington corridor (ORD → ILM) covers roughly 760 miles and is served by 8 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 780 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 70.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 780 flights were recorded on this pairing — 3 cancelled (0.4%) and 1 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 8 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 780 total flights analyzed, the 80.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 70.4-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 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 82% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 64% on-time — a 18-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the ORD to ILM route, the combination of a 80.4% on-time rate, 70.4-minute average delay, 0.4% recent cancellation rate, and 8 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.