Great-circle route BNA ↔ MDW. Faint dots are other airports, for geographic context. Download this map — free to reuse with a link back to this page.
Frequencies below are per direction, from our most recent schedule sample. The two directions are not identical — that is normal on scheduled routes.
| Direction | Frequency | Days | Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| BNA → MDW Nashville to Chicago |
40/wk | Daily | Southwest Airlines |
| MDW → BNA Chicago to Nashville |
36/wk | Daily | Southwest Airlines |
Where a direction shows “—” we track it as an operating nonstop but hold no schedule sample for it — we would rather show nothing than guess.
In 2025, airlines reported 440,989 passengers on 3,775 flights between BNA and MDW — about 1,209 a day — filling 72% of the 616,318 seats flown. Southwest Airlines Co. carried the most passengers (100%).
Source: US DOT T-100 segment reports — actual airline-reported traffic, scheduled service only, both directions combined. Cargo and charter flights excluded.
Southwest Airlines is the only airline flying the BNA–MDW nonstop.
Recent scheduled departures on this route have used the Boeing 737, Boeing 737-800.
Aircraft assignments change by season and by time of day.
The distance between Nashville International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport is 395 miles, or 636 kilometres.
| Great-circle distance | 395 mi |
| Kilometres | 636 km |
| Nautical miles | 343 nmi |
Measured airport to airport. The actual track is longer — aircraft follow airways, avoid restricted airspace and route around weather.
Yes. Southwest Airlines flies the route nonstop, with about 76 departures a week across both directions. The route is in our live nonstop dataset, last seeded 2026-07-07.
About 1h 25m in the air. That is a great-circle estimate from the 395-mile distance, not a scheduled block time — an airline's published time will differ by roughly 15 to 45 minutes depending on routing, winds and taxi.
About 40 a week from Nashville to Chicago and 36 a week from Chicago to Nashville, from our most recent schedule sample.
Southwest Airlines.
In 2025, airlines reported 440,989 passengers on 3,775 scheduled flights between BNA and MDW — about 1,209 a day — filling 72% of the seats flown. Source: US DOT T-100 segment reports, both directions combined.
Recent scheduled departures have used the Boeing 737, Boeing 737-800. Assignments change by season and by time of day.
