Milwaukee (MKE) → Chicago (ORD)

The flight from Milwaukee (MKE) to Chicago (ORD) covers a great-circle distance of roughly 108 km (67 miles). Aircraft leave General Mitchell International Airport on an initial south heading. As US domestic sectors go, this one sits in the short-haul bracket: long enough that most carriers run it as its own dedicated rotation, but short enough to fit inside a single crew duty period.

3 carriers file a direct MKE to ORD sector, with American Airlines and United Airlines among the operators on record. A route attracting this many carriers usually points to a city pair with both leisure and business demand, or a competitive hub-to-hub link where the airline alliances overlap on the same metal.

At well under 1,500 km this is a regional sector. Carriers typically run narrow-body aircraft from the Airbus A320 family or the Boeing 737 series, with regional jets (Embraer E-Jet, CRJ) showing up on lower-frequency rotations. Block time runs around 52m. Expect a single-aisle cabin and no real meal service. A snack and a drink is usually all you get.

If a nonstop doesn't match your dates, Atlanta (ATL), Los Angeles (LAX), and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) show up on both ends of the network and make the most natural connecting points. The connecting-hubs grid below extends that list to the eight strongest options, ranked by each airport's overall departure activity. That ranking is a fast proxy for how many onward flights a single stop is likely to feed.

Both endpoints sit inside the United States, so this counts as a domestic sector for fare-bucket, baggage, and carry-on purposes. Reservations on US carriers usually pick up the standard domestic checked-bag fee unless you hold elite status, and TSA PreCheck eligibility applies at the departure airport. See the United States routes index for other domestic pairs in the same network.

On the day of operation, the MKE to ORD direction lifts off heading south, then the great-circle track curves to compensate for the Earth's rotation. The return ORD to MKE sector heads north out of the gate, with 1 operators on file for the inbound side. Combine the two operator lists for a full picture of the city pair's competitive landscape.

Aircraft types flown on this segment in 2025, by departures performed: Canadair RJ-200ER /RJ-440 (1,929 departures), Canadair RJ-700 (1,401 departures), Bombardier CRJ550 (812 departures), Embraer ERJ-175 (542 departures), Embraer-Emb-170 (37 departures), Boeing 737-800 (30 departures), Boeing B737 Max 800 (7 departures), Airbus Industrie A321/Lr (7 departures) and 11 other aircraft type(s). Mail carried: 368 lb. Departures scheduled vs. performed: 4,777 scheduled, 4,789 performed.

Data as of: full calendar year 2025 (all 12 months) · Source: BTS T-100 Domestic Segment (All Carriers), U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (public domain, U.S. government work). Carrier names and aircraft-type descriptions are BTS's own record values, not this site's. Figures reflect carrier-filed BTS reports, not real-time bookings. See the BTS domestic traffic hub and methodology for match coverage and corrections path.

Reading this route page

The operator list reflects scheduled-route filings in the OpenFlights dataset, not real-time availability. A carrier appearing here publishes a scheduled service on this sector. It isn't a live timetable, and the actual flight numbers, frequencies, and aircraft types shift season to season. For booking and current schedules, cross-reference the airline page above with the carrier's own website.

Distance here is the great-circle arc between the two airports' published coordinates. Real flight tracks wander off that line because of wind, ATC routings, oceanic crossings, and political airspace constraints. Block time is an estimate covering ground taxi, climb, cruise at typical jet speeds, and descent. Real block times shift with aircraft type, weather, and traffic, so treat the stat-strip number as a planning indicator rather than a published flight time.