Chicago to Saginaw/Bay City/Midland

What the Data Says About ORD to MBS

The Chicago to Saginaw/Bay City/Midland corridor (ORD → MBS) covers roughly 222 miles and is served by 1 carrier, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 3,290 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 75.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 76.9 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 2,127 flights were recorded on this pairing — 41 cancelled (1.9%) and 4 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 3,290 total flights analyzed, the 75.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 76.9-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 Dec 2025 came in at 55% on-time — a 37-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the ORD to MBS route, the combination of a 75.5% on-time rate, 76.9-minute average delay, 1.9% recent cancellation rate, and 1 available carrier is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.