RIC to ORD flight delays
Richmond, VA (RIC) Chicago, IL (ORD) · 642 miles
2,211 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
77.05%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
3.66%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
95 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
23 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. United Airlines arrived on time 18.6 points more often than SkyWest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 3.66% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
The season swings this route hard. In February it ran 22.5 points more punctual than in July — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
The route has been getting better. The later months in the record run 10.1 points more punctual than the earlier ones, which usually means a schedule that was too tight has been given more room.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on RIC to ORD. SkyWest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in February and worst in July.
Every airline on RIC to ORD
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 818 | 82.38% | 3.67% | 88 min | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 719 | 66.08% | 4.59% | 115 min | F |
| Envoy Air | 379 | 80.05% | 3.17% | 69 min | C |
| United Airlines | 295 | 84.72% | 2.03% | 58 min | B |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
ORD to RIC Chicago back to Richmond 70.16% on time FOther routes from Richmond
Common questions
Are flights from Richmond to Chicago usually delayed?
77.05% of flights on the RIC to ORD route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Richmond to Chicago?
United Airlines, at 84.72% on time across 295 flights. The least punctual on the route was SkyWest Airlines at 66.08%.
How often are RIC to ORD flights cancelled?
3.66% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 37 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Richmond to Chicago?
February, when 86.2% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 63.7%.
When RIC to ORD flights are late, how late are they?
About 95 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on RIC to ORD during January 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →