Chicago (MDW) – Philadelphia (PHL)
- Distance
- 1,076 km
- 668 mi · 581 nm
- Flight time
- 1 h 51 min / 2 h 5 min
- Average gate to gate: MDW → PHL / back
- Time difference
- 1 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 135 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (80 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 406,336
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −8.4%
- Flights / week
- 57
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 83%
- 488,963 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 2
- WN, F9
Traffic: U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service), Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources
The way there
- Heading from MDW
- 97°
- Heading from PHL
- 285°
- Halfway point
- 41.00, -81.41
- Great-circle km
- 1,073 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air MDW → PHL
- 1 h 29 min
- In the air PHL → MDW
- 1 h 44 min
- Clocks
- Philadelphia is 1 h ahead of Chicago
The estimate for a route without real times is 2 h 5 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 45,511 |
| Sep 2025 | 43,280 |
| Oct 2025 | 43,602 |
| Nov 2025 | 33,613 |
| Dec 2025 | 31,620 |
| Jan 2026 | 22,592 |
| Feb 2026 | 18,748 |
| Mar 2026 | 25,153 |
| Apr 2026 | 29,869 |
| May 2026 | 36,073 |
| Jun 2026 | 37,848 |
| Jul 2026 | 38,427 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 308 |
| Sep 2025 | 318 |
| Oct 2025 | 311 |
| Nov 2025 | 256 |
| Dec 2025 | 244 |
| Jan 2026 | 186 |
| Feb 2026 | 162 |
| Mar 2026 | 180 |
| Apr 2026 | 219 |
| May 2026 | 238 |
| Jun 2026 | 278 |
| Jul 2026 | 280 |
Airlines flying MDW–PHL nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 55 | 96% |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 2.6 | 4% |
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Airlines with at least one flight a month. U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service). Sources
Aircraft on this route
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 1,080 flights
- Boeing 737-700/700LR/Max 7 · 961 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 804 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-200n · 130 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-100/200 · 5 flights
Also carried: 447 tonnes of freight and 0 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 75.5%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 18 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 1.7%
- Flights counted
- 3,046
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 75.1% | 18 min |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 83.7% | 19 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 25% · aircraft arriving late 39% · air traffic system 29% · weather 6% · security 0%.
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. BTS Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (US domestic flights of the larger US airlines). Sources
What passengers paid
- Average fare, Q1 2026
- $228
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $185
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- Southwest Airlines
- 97% of passengers · $228
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 1% of passengers · $144
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $184 · Q3 2025 $176 · Q4 2025 $179 · Q1 2026 $228).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $233, likely $201–$265
The average fare paid we expect a year after Q1 2026, the newest DOT quarter. On this route, past forecasts made this way fell inside the range 81% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 6.6%). An estimate from US DOT data: not a price you can book, not a guarantee, not advice on when to buy. How the outlook works
Cheapest quarter on this route: Q3, typically 4% below the year's average (9 years of DOT data, without 2020–21).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 1a (airline ticket sample, US domestic airport pairs). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 1,073 km.
Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).
Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.
Every airport pair between Chicago and Philadelphia
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Chicago airports