Airport month record
MDWMAR
Chicago Midway International in March 2026
- Departures
- 6,508
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 4
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at MDW, see live FAA status.
MDW in March carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.9% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about seven flights in ten arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 6,508 flights, with a median arrival 1 minute early.
The national on-time rate over the same period is 75.7%, so mdw in march runs 7 points behind the country as a whole. Across a thousand flights that is about 70 extra late arrivals.
Key figures
On time
68.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,242 completed departures
Avg delay
67 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.89%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
75.1%
MDW across all twelve months
These figures cover 6,508 departures from Chicago Midway International in March 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
March next to MDW's other months
Against MDW's own year, March ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 75.1%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 3.89% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 81.6% on time and April 77.6%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 7,531 | 67.2% | 69 min | 1.81% | C |
| August 2025 | 6,731 | 77.8% | 58 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 6,459 | 84.1% | 46 min | 0.06% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 6,536 | 80.2% | 45 min | 0.17% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 5,620 | 80.6% | 59 min | 4.96% | B− |
| December 2025 | 5,738 | 69.7% | 57 min | 0.45% | C+ |
| January 2026 | 4,848 | 80.9% | 50 min | 2.15% | B |
| February 2026 | 4,537 | 81.6% | 46 min | 0.90% | B+ |
| March 2026 (this page) | 6,508 | 68.7% | 67 min | 3.89% | C− |
| April 2026 | 6,282 | 77.6% | 52 min | 1.18% | B |
| May 2026 | 6,269 | 74.0% | 53 min | 0.35% | C+ |
| June 2026 | 6,937 | 64.2% | 60 min | 1.53% | D |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MDW in March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 35 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am912 flights88.7%
- 8am–11am1,448 flights79.4%
- 11am–2pm1,134 flights67.3%
- 2pm–5pm761 flights67.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,221 flights55.3%
- 8pm–5am1,032 flights53.9%
Scale runs 45% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 53.9% on time, against 88.7% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,448 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 77.4% on time and Friday the weakest at 56.6%. 21 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MDW in March
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 6,092 | 68.4% | 65 min | 3.91% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 184 | 68.5% | 73 min | 3.26% | C− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 120 | 85.1% | 140 min | 5.00% | A− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 92 | 68.5% | 64 min | 3.26% | C− |
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MDW in March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDW to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 289 | 75.1% | 87 min | 4.15% | B− |
| MDW to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 286 | 69.6% | 66 min | 3.85% | C− |
| MDW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 283 | 76.9% | 67 min | 3.53% | B− |
| MDW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 225 | 68.9% | 74 min | 5.78% | C− |
| MDW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 197 | 50.6% | 67 min | 11.68% | F− |
| MDW to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 196 | 63.9% | 55 min | 2.55% | D |
| MDW to TPA · Tampathin sample | 182 | 70.5% | 65 min | 3.30% | C− |
| MDW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 181 | 61.5% | 71 min | 3.31% | D− |
| MDW to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 174 | 74.3% | 62 min | 4.02% | C− |
| MDW to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 171 | 81.4% | 92 min | 1.75% | B |
| MDW to DEN · Denverthin sample | 169 | 66.5% | 72 min | 2.96% | C |
| MDW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 164 | 78.8% | 86 min | 2.44% | B |
| MDW to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 163 | 63.6% | 58 min | 4.29% | D− |
| MDW to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 161 | 73.2% | 59 min | 2.48% | C |
| MDW to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 136 | 74.2% | 81 min | 2.94% | C |
| MDW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 125 | 82.1% | 73 min | 4.80% | B− |
| MDW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 113 | 54.5% | 65 min | 0.88% | F+ |
| MDW to OMA · Omahathin sample | 109 | 67.0% | 66 min | 5.50% | C− |
| MDW to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 109 | 62.4% | 52 min | 7.34% | D− |
| MDW to AUS · Austinthin sample | 106 | 74.0% | 59 min | 1.89% | C |
| MDW to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 105 | 69.3% | 60 min | 3.81% | C− |
| MDW to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 102 | 72.7% | 56 min | 2.94% | C |
| MDW to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 93 | 75.6% | 54 min | 3.23% | B− |
| MDW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 93 | 65.9% | 56 min | 2.15% | C |
| MDW to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 89 | 81.0% | 68 min | 4.49% | B− |
Delay causes
What held MDW up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 130,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%Carrier
- 18%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 1%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 130,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 130,424 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.89%, against 2.90% nationally. That is about one flight in 25 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 11.4% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from MDW in March
For a March trip through MDW: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 88.7% on time, and with 11.4% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Chicago Midway International (MDW), the whole year
- MDW in July67.2%
- MDW in August77.8%
- MDW in September84.1%
- MDW in October80.2%
- MDW in November80.6%
- MDW in December69.7%
- MDW in January80.9%
- MDW in February81.6%
- MDW in April77.6%
- MDW in May74.0%
- MDW in June64.2%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.