Rapid City to Minneapolis

What the Data Says About RAP to MSP

The Rapid City to Minneapolis corridor (RAP → MSP) covers roughly 489 miles and is served by 9 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 5,930 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 89.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 102.8 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 2,066 flights were recorded on this pairing — 19 cancelled (0.9%) and 5 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 9 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 5,930 total flights analyzed, the 89.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 102.8-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, Oct 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 97% on-time, while Jun 2024 came in at 60% on-time — a 37-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the RAP to MSP route, the combination of a 89.5% on-time rate, 102.8-minute average delay, 0.9% recent cancellation rate, and 9 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.