RDU Airport: 79.4% on time, worst at 9 PM

RDU right now

Live conditions where a permitted source publishes them, and the historical record where none does.

No disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Departures at this hour

92.6% leave on time

06:00–06:59 local · 22,803 departures on record

Typical taxi out18 min

Median arrival11 min early

Cancelled1.6%

When flights run late in this hour, most of the delay is attributed to the airline.

Historical pattern for RDU from US DOT BTS — not a live reading.

Aviation weatherVFR

41°F · wind 7 kt

Minimal operational impact. Conditions are not a notable factor for operations right now.

Updated 09:51 UTC

Forecast issued 05:34Z.

Updated 05:34 UTC

Aircraft seen now

On the field0

Airborne within 15 NM0

Departed in the last hour1

Arrived in the last hour0

Below 10,000 ft, so aircraft overflying at cruise are not counted. These are observations, not an operational status: a count is a floor, since receiver coverage varies and a movement between two samples can be missed.

Updated 09:47 UTC

Aircraft observations from ADSB.lol (opens in a new tab) (Katia Esposito and contributing feeders), under the ODbL 1.0 (opens in a new tab). Derived data.

FlyerIntel shows live values only where a permitted source provides them. Sections without data are left empty rather than estimated.

Airport reliability

Departures from RDU, July 2023 – July 2026.

Airport Reliability Score

61/ 100Good

Better than 32% of major US airports covered by FlyerIntel (64 compared)

Calculated from 179,935 flights. How this is calculated

Departures arriving on time

79.4%

139,894 of 176,255 completed

Cancellation rate

1.84%

3,314 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 7.7 min

Severe delays

7.8%

Arrived 60+ minutes late

Delay when late

79 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departures analyzed

179,935

179,931 arrivals

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why flights are cancelled at RDU

Every cancellation carries a reason code filed by the airline that operated the flight. Departures, July 2023 – July 2026.

Extreme weather accounts for 56.2% of cancelled departures from RDU — about 1 in every 97 scheduled departures. That is close to the split across every airport FlyerIntel covers.

Share of cancellations

Weather56.2%

Airline25.0%

Air traffic18.7%

Security0.0%

Of 3,314 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 97

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

1,863 cancellations, 56.2% of the total.

The airline1 in 217

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

829 cancellations, 25.0% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 290

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

621 cancellations, 18.7% of the total.

Security1 in 179,935

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

1 cancellation, <0.1% of the total.

3,314 of 179,935 scheduled departures from RDU were cancelled. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

By carrier

Cancellation causes by carrier at RDU
Carrier	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
Republic Airways YX	640	3.13%	5%	60%	35%	0%
American Airlines AA	570	1.74%	12%	83%	5%	0%

Shares are of each carrier’s own coded cancellations at RDU and run across the row, so they total 100%. “Rate” is cancellations as a share of that carrier’s scheduled departures here. Two carriers on the same runways in the same weather can file very different splits, so read this as what each airline reported about itself, not as a ranking of fault. Carriers below the published minimum of coded cancellations are not listed.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026 · Reason codes are each airline’s own filing, not an independent finding of fault. Shown for airports with at least 500 coded cancellations; 3,314 were recorded at RDU.

Why flights run late at RDU

Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on departures from RDU.

Late-arriving aircraft43.9%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline28.0%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control24.1%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.0%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for departures from RDU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Of the 32,483 departures from RDU that left 15 or more minutes late and have a known inbound aircraft, 65% followed a flight that landed 15 or more minutes late. The other 35% left late even though the aircraft had come in on time or early. Across the 64 covered airports that share runs from 47% to 73%, with a median of 62%; RDU’s is the 17th highest.

The late flight is the one the same aircraft flew into RDU just before, found from the tail number in the DOT file. Airlines and hours differ from one airport to the next, so this describes the departures from RDU and does not rate the airport.

An airport is only partly the author of its own delays. Late-arriving aircraft describes the national schedule arriving here more than anything about this airfield. Air traffic control covers airspace and airport capacity, which is where a congested airport shows up; only the airline category sits squarely inside the carriers’ own operation. How differently they run it is further down this page.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What weather costs at RDU

Departures from RDU by the weather at the airport in the hour they were scheduled to leave, July 2023 – July 2026.

9.3% of scheduled departures from RDU left in an hour of bad weather. 4.1% of them were cancelled, against 1.6% in normal conditions, and 74.9% of the ones that flew arrived on time, against 79.9%. Those hours held 21% of all cancelled departures. That is about 414 more cancellations than the normal-conditions rate would give.

Cancellations were highest in high wind hours: 7.5% of 1,140 departures, 4.7 times the normal rate.

Airlines filed 56% of RDU’s coded cancellations under extreme weather. By the weather at the airport in the scheduled hour, 21% of cancelled departures were in bad-weather hours. A code is the airline’s stated reason and an hour’s weather is what the airport reported, so the two need not match.

By weather

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Cancellation and on-time rates at RDU by the weather at the airport in the scheduled departure hour
Weather at the airport	Departures	Cancelled	Left on time	Arrived on time	Avg. departure delay
Normal conditionsVFR with no thunderstorm, snow or ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind	149,96783.5% of all	1.6%	80.6%	79.9%	12.7 min
Any bad weatherIFR or LIFR, or a thunderstorm, snow or ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind	16,6729.3% of all	4.1%2.6 times normal	76.3%	74.9%5.0 points below normal	20.7 min
MVFRceiling 1,000 to 3,000 feet or visibility 3 to 5 miles	13,7257.6% of all	2.4%	78.0%	77.2%2.7 points below normal	16.6 min
IFRceiling 500 to 999 feet or visibility 1 to under 3 miles	9,7885.5% of all	3.4%2.1 times normal	79.8%	79.4%	15.7 min
LIFRceiling under 500 feet or visibility under 1 mile	4,6042.6% of all	3.6%2.3 times normal	79.6%	77.0%2.9 points below normal	18.2 min
Thunderstorma thunderstorm reported at the airport	2,1071.2% of all	6.2%3.9 times normal	44.4%	41.5%38.4 points below normal	63.3 min
Snow or icesnow, snow grains, ice pellets, freezing rain or freezing drizzle	4970.3% of all	40.4%25.5 times normal	58.6%	39.9%40.0 points below normal	50.6 min
Fogfog or freezing fog reported at the airport	1,0750.6% of all	3.7%2.4 times normal	76.2%	72.1%7.8 points below normal	28.2 min
Heavy rainheavy rain reported at the airport	1,2050.7% of all	4.8%3.0 times normal	51.4%	49.8%30.1 points below normal	56.2 min
High windwind of 25 knots or more, or gusts of 30 knots or more	1,1400.6% of all	7.5%4.7 times normal	55.3%	52.5%27.4 points below normal	50.2 min
Low ceilinga broken or overcast layer under 1,000 feet	12,4786.9% of all	2.7%1.7 times normal	82.3%	81.5%1.6 points above normal	12.5 min
Low visibilityvisibility under 3 miles	7,0303.9% of all	5.0%3.2 times normal	75.8%	74.1%5.8 points below normal	22.7 min

A departure is counted in every row its hour fits, so the rows overlap and do not add up. Left on time is a departure under 15 minutes late, and arrived on time an arrival under 15 minutes late; cancelled is the share of scheduled departures. Rows with fewer than 120 departures are not scored.

This is the weather reported at RDU in the hour a flight was scheduled to leave. It leaves out the weather at the destination and on the way, weather that arrived after the scheduled time, and anything else that goes wrong in a bad hour. An hour takes the worst conditions any report in it gave. Weather was matched to 99.8% of the airport’s scheduled departures; the rest left in hours with no report, or at a scheduled time the flight records cannot place exactly. Bad-weather hours are compared with normal hours at the same airport, not with what the same flights would have done in a clear sky: they also fall more often in some seasons and at some times of day.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – July 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Which airlines hold up in bad weather at RDU

Cancellations by airline in hours of bad weather at RDU, against the other carriers in the same months, July 2023 – July 2026.

9% of the weather-matched departures from RDU left in an hour of bad weather at the airport. 4.1% of them were cancelled. That is 2.6 times the 1.6% in normal hours. No one carrier holds most of them; 8 airlines have enough to compare.

Compared with the other carriers at RDU in the same months, Southwest Airlines (2.6% cancelled against 4.4% for the others; below them in normal hours too) cancelled the fewest in bad weather and Republic Airways (7.8% cancelled against 4.4% for the others; above them in normal hours too) the most. 3 more airlines are also clearly apart from the others.

Airlines in bad weather at RDU

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Cancellation rates by airline in hours of bad weather at RDU, against the other carriers in the same months and against the airline's own normal hours
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
Southwest Airlines	2,49015% of bad-weather	2.6%below the others	4.4%	0.7%others 1.7%
United Airlines	1,77611% of bad-weather	2.7%below the others	4.4%	1.1%others 1.6%
Delta Air Lines	3,49921% of bad-weather	2.9%below the others	4.4%	0.8%others 1.8%
JetBlue	9196% of bad-weather	3.7%	4.0%	2.3%others 1.5%
American Airlines	3,22819% of bad-weather	4.0%	3.8%	1.5%others 1.6%
Frontier Airlines	1,0436% of bad-weather	5.3%	4.7%	2.5%others 1.6%
Endeavor Air	8895% of bad-weather	5.1%above the others	2.3%	2.7%others 1.1%
Republic Airways	1,80511% of bad-weather	7.8%above the others	4.4%	2.7%others 1.4%

Best first. The other carriers’ column applies their rate in each month to the airline’s own departures, so a stormy month is not held against it; the normal-hours column gives the same pair outside bad weather.

The 8 listed airlines flew 94% of the bad-weather departures at RDU; a carrier under 500 is not listed. The comparison does not hold the hour of the day, the destination or the aircraft fixed, and a gap counts as clear only at 2 standard errors and 0.3 points. Endeavor Air and Republic Airways fly for mainline airlines and are counted as carriers of their own here, though they share the airport’s gates, its de-icing and often its decisions to cancel.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – July 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Turning aircraft around at RDU

Time on the ground between one flight and the next of the same aircraft at RDU, and what a late arrival does to the next departure, July 2023 – July 2026.

The median turn at RDU is scheduled for 52 minutes on the ground and takes 59 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airports. Aircraft are given less time on the ground here than at the typical airport. The 7 minutes by which the typical turn runs over its schedule are about what it is across all airports.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (24,223 turns here, 61 minutes late on average), 60% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airports. 81% of those flights left 15 or more minutes late, against 72%. After an aircraft that landed on time, 10% did (all airports 11%).

Given the turn lengths scheduled here, the network’s rates would give 63% finished in the schedule and 78% leaving late. RDU does worse on both counts: fewer late turns are finished in the schedule and more late aircraft become late departures, so a late arrival is more likely to stay late here than the schedule alone explains. 44% of its late-inbound turns had a scheduled turn of 45 to 59 minutes, against 31% across all airports.

Turns at RDU against all airports

124,739 turns, July 2023 – July 2026

Aircraft turns at RDU against all airports: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	RDU	All airports	All airports, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	52 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	59 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	19%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	60%	68%	63%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	81%	72%	78%
On-time inbound that left 15+ minutes late	10%	11%	—

The last column is the network’s rate at the turn lengths scheduled at RDU, band by band from under 30 minutes to 3 to 6 hours. A turn finishes within the schedule when the aircraft spent no more time on the ground than the schedule gave it.

A turn pairs an aircraft’s landing at RDU with its next departure from it by tail number; the aircraft is never named. These 124,739 turns are 69% of the flights that left RDU in the period; the rest are an aircraft’s first flight after a long stay, flights without a usable inbound, and cancelled flights. Ground time runs from the gate. Turns under 30 minutes are kept, but most leave late even after an on-time landing. Airlines set their own turn schedules, so this describes the airlines that fly at RDU and does not rate the airport.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records · July 2023 – July 2026 · Airports side by side: Where a Late Aircraft Gets Its Time Back.

What sets RDU apart

Where RDU’s hours, months, airlines and taxi time differ most from the other airports, July 2023 – July 2026.

Flights scheduled to leave RDU at 10 AM arrive on time 87.8% of the time, 4.9 points better than the 82.9% for that hour at the other airports.

9 PM is where RDU falls furthest behind the rest: 63.1% of its 9 PM departures arrive on time, 8.2 points below the 71.3% for that hour elsewhere.

March treats RDU better than it treats the rest of the country: 80.8% on time against 77.9% elsewhere, 2.9 points ahead.

American Airlines does better out of RDU than anywhere else it flies: 78.1% on time here, 74.8% on its other departures, 3.3 points apart.

Spirit Airlines’ departures from RDU arrive on time 66.3% of the time, 9.2 points worse than the 75.5% the same airline manages at its other airports.

RDU against the other airports

July 2023 – July 2026

Where RDU differs most from the other covered airports, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	RDU	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 10 AM departures	87.8%	82.9%	+4.9 pts	8,477 here, 1,111,733 elsewhere
Hour: 9 PM departures	63.1%	71.3%	−8.2 pts	1,908 here, 682,403 elsewhere
Month: March	80.8%	77.9%	+2.9 pts	13,831 here, 1,443,490 elsewhere
Airline: American Airlines	78.1%	74.8%	+3.3 pts	32,205 here, 2,924,434 elsewhere
Airline: Spirit Airlines	66.3%	75.5%	−9.2 pts	1,533 here, 619,771 elsewhere

"Elsewhere" is every other covered airport together, taken from the same aggregates as this page with RDU’s own flights removed (for airlines, that airline’s flights from all its other airports). Hours, months and airlines appear only where both sides have at least 120 completed flights (airlines 500) and the gap is at least 2 points and 2 standard errors; only the largest gap in each direction is shown. The taxi figure is weighted by departures and has no error estimate, so it appears from 2 minutes.

Best time to fly from RDU

On-time arrival rate by scheduled local departure time: each weekday and hour, and averaged over the week.

Flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 63.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures — a gap of 25.1 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time.

Thursday 5–6 AM was the most reliable slot at RDU (94.7% on time, 1,204 flights) and Sunday 8–9 PM the least (56.0%, 977 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 9.1 points from the airport-wide rate, weekday averages 1.9 points.

On-time arrival rate at RDU by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Most reliable slot
Least reliable slot

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

Best and worst slots are named only among slots with 500+ flights, and only when the gap is larger than sampling error. Departures before 5 AM and after 11 PM (48 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday at RDU. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	93.5% on time1,208 flights	92.8% on time1,008 flights	92.8% on time1,035 flights	94.7% on time1,204 flights	92.6% on time1,217 flights	91.9% on time1,075 flights	93.2% on time1,119 flights
6 AM–7 AM	89.6% on time3,369 flights	91.5% on time3,282 flights	91.0% on time3,238 flights	90.5% on time3,366 flights	89.0% on time3,365 flights	90.0% on time3,039 flights	90.0% on time3,144 flights
7 AM–8 AM	86.2% on time2,453 flights	88.0% on time2,351 flights	87.1% on time2,331 flights	87.8% on time2,428 flights	86.5% on time2,440 flights	86.2% on time2,352 flights	87.2% on time2,397 flights
8 AM–9 AM	84.1% on time1,438 flights	87.3% on time1,404 flights	87.5% on time1,446 flights	86.2% on time1,401 flights	85.5% on time1,438 flights	82.6% on time1,334 flights	86.3% on time1,378 flights
9 AM–10 AM	87.1% on time1,221 flights	90.2% on time1,102 flights	90.7% on time1,093 flights	87.8% on time1,219 flights	87.8% on time1,202 flights	83.0% on time806 flights	86.2% on time1,219 flights
10 AM–11 AM	86.4% on time1,296 flights	87.8% on time1,216 flights	89.2% on time1,186 flights	88.2% on time1,253 flights	87.1% on time1,304 flights	87.9% on time1,133 flights	88.2% on time1,236 flights
11 AM–12 PM	83.5% on time1,624 flights	86.5% on time1,513 flights	86.7% on time1,527 flights	82.5% on time1,571 flights	82.5% on time1,631 flights	81.1% on time1,466 flights	83.0% on time1,597 flights
12 PM–1 PM	79.7% on time1,748 flights	82.6% on time1,566 flights	82.4% on time1,535 flights	77.8% on time1,753 flights	77.2% on time1,734 flights	78.9% on time1,502 flights	78.2% on time1,659 flights
1 PM–2 PM	77.2% on time1,427 flights	79.3% on time1,365 flights	79.2% on time1,363 flights	79.1% on time1,416 flights	74.6% on time1,415 flights	81.2% on time1,088 flights	76.7% on time1,459 flights
2 PM–3 PM	76.2% on time1,014 flights	79.3% on time1,027 flights	79.4% on time1,018 flights	76.1% on time1,022 flights	74.3% on time1,050 flights	79.7% on time906 flights	71.8% on time1,180 flights
3 PM–4 PM	73.5% on time1,574 flights	76.5% on time1,375 flights	76.3% on time1,400 flights	74.3% on time1,519 flights	70.7% on time1,557 flights	78.1% on time1,197 flights	72.0% on time1,618 flights
4 PM–5 PM	70.5% on time1,519 flights	74.9% on time1,324 flights	74.0% on time1,379 flights	66.4% on time1,467 flights	64.2% on time1,501 flights	74.5% on time1,260 flights	69.0% on time1,463 flights
5 PM–6 PM	67.6% on time1,868 flights	70.6% on time1,721 flights	70.7% on time1,685 flights	63.9% on time1,850 flights	62.5% on time1,819 flights	72.9% on time1,505 flights	64.5% on time1,884 flights
6 PM–7 PM	68.0% on time2,159 flights	73.7% on time1,948 flights	72.7% on time1,979 flights	69.6% on time2,133 flights	67.6% on time2,187 flights	70.9% on time1,702 flights	64.0% on time2,181 flights
7 PM–8 PM	67.6% on time1,944 flights	72.2% on time1,638 flights	70.9% on time1,625 flights	66.3% on time1,892 flights	66.3% on time1,870 flights	66.3% on time1,106 flights	62.8% on time1,929 flights
8 PM–9 PM	65.1% on time873 flights	68.0% on time537 flights	68.1% on time585 flights	60.6% on time893 flights	65.9% on time925 flights	64.7% on time521 flights	56.0% on time977 flights
9 PM–10 PM	61.8% on time323 flights	69.6% on time167 flights	63.6% on time153 flights	63.7% on time323 flights	59.4% on time348 flights	64.4% on time245 flights	63.1% on time422 flights
10 PM–11 PM	57.2% on time153 flights	79 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	71.1% on time142 flights	68.5% on time154 flights	79 flights, too few to score	62.9% on time202 flights

By departure window

All days combined

5–9 AM88.9%

9 AM–12 PM86.1%

12–3 PM78.3%

3–6 PM70.4%

6–9 PM67.6%

9 PM–5 AM63.8%

By departure hour

All days combined

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Buckets with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

International arrivals

How long passport control normally takes here, hour by hour and hall by hall. This is the arrivals queue, not departure security — and it is history, not a live wait.

At Terminal 2, RDU’s busiest hall, both passport queues run much the same: a typical 9 min on a US passport and 13 min on any other, rising to 27 min on a busy day. Where the two halls agree like this, CBP’s combined figure of 11 min is a fair summary of both — which is not true everywhere, and is why they are shown apart.

Terminal by terminal, across the day

Terminal by terminal, across the day
Terminal	US passports	US busy day	Other passports	Other busy day	Global Entry
Terminal 2	9 min	21 min	13 min	27 min	12.9% of arrivals

US passports — Terminal 2

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

US citizens and lawful permanent residents, who use the US-passport lanes.

All other passports — Terminal 2

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Every other arriving passenger, including visa and visa-waiver travelers.

Hour by hour — Terminal 2

Hour by hour — Terminal 2
Cleared in hour	US passports	US busy day	Other passports	Other busy day	Booths open
1 PM–2 PM	10 min	20 min	14 min	25 min	4
2 PM–3 PM	10 min	22 min	15 min	30 min	4
3 PM–4 PM	8 min	18 min	12 min	23 min	4
4 PM–5 PM	12 min	23 min	17 min	30 min	4
5 PM–6 PM	13 min	25 min	17 min	32 min	4
6 PM–7 PM	10 min	22 min	13 min	27 min	3
7 PM–8 PM	8 min	15 min	10 min	19 min	3

US passports: clearing in the 5 PM–6 PM hour typically takes 13 min, against 8 min in the 3 PM–4 PM hour — 5 min between the slowest and fastest of 7 measured hours.

All other passports: clearing in the 4 PM–5 PM hour typically takes 17 min, against 10 min in the 7 PM–8 PM hour — 8 min between the slowest and fastest of 7 measured hours.

The hour is when CBP processed the passenger, not when the aircraft landed — allow for the walk from the gate. Hours with fewer than 120 days of records are not listed rather than shown as an estimate, which is why a terminal’s quietest hours are usually absent. “Busy day” is the 90th percentile: one arrival in ten is worse than that. Booths are how many CBP had open, and they follow the queue rather than prevent it — the busiest hours are staffed hardest and are still the slowest.

Source: US Customs and Border Protection · 2024-08-28 to 2026-10-16 · These are CBP passport control waits for arriving international passengers — a different queue from TSA departure screening. CBP publishes them about two days in arrears, so every figure here describes what has been typical over 2024-08-28 to 2026-10-16, and none of it is a live queue or a forecast for your flight. US and non-US passengers are reported separately by CBP and are kept separate here, because they are separate halls. FlyerIntel publishes a terminal or an hour only where CBP filed at least 120 hourly records for it, and an hour-by-hour breakdown only where at least 6 hours clear that floor.

What to expect at RDU

How busy the airport is through the day, from scheduled departure volume.

Departures a day

160

Average across the analysis period

Busiest hour

6 AM

About 20 departures

Typical taxi-out

17.6 min

Pushback to wheels-up, on departure

Typical taxi-in

6.9 min

Touchdown to gate, on arrival

Scheduled departures by hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

The busiest hour is 6 AM, with about 20 departures a day, against roughly 2 at 9 PM. That peak is also more punctual than a typical hour here: early banks fly aircraft that spent the night on the ground rather than ones inheriting the day’s delays.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Taxi-out runs from gate to wheels-up, averaged over departures and weighted by hour. Taxi-in runs from touchdown to gate.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.7%

Tue82.1%

Wed81.8%

Thu78.7%

Fri77.4%

Sat80.5%

Sun77.0%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.1 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 13.6 percentage points.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026

Airlines at RDU

Departure performance by operating carrier. Regional flights are reported by the carrier that operated them, not by the mainline brand.

Airlines at RDU
Carrier	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
Delta Air Lines DL	35,574	84.7%	1.10%	-10 min
American Airlines AA	32,841	78.1%	1.74%	-6 min
Southwest Airlines WN	27,778	81.0%	0.91%	-6 min
Republic Airways YX	20,435	78.9%	3.13%	-7 min
United Airlines UA	18,100	81.5%	1.27%	-8 min
Frontier Airlines F9	13,569	71.6%	2.82%	-5 min
Endeavor Air 9E	9,946	79.9%	3.01%	-10 min
JetBlue B6	9,643	74.4%	2.46%	-7 min
Envoy Air MQ	3,927	77.3%	1.83%	-5 min
PSA Airlines OH	3,169	68.2%	4.54%	-2 min
Alaska Airlines AS	1,764	74.6%	1.25%	-1 min
SkyWest Airlines OO	1,595	77.4%	1.00%	-4 min
Spirit Airlines NK	1,594	66.3%	3.58%	0 min

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Carriers with fewer than 500 departures are not listed.

Routes from RDU

Ranked by FlyerIntel Route Reliability Score.

Most reliable

ATLAtlanta75 CLTCharlotte62 ORDChicago58 LGANew York39

Least reliable

LGANew York39 ORDChicago58 CLTCharlotte62 ATLAtlanta75

Busiest routes

Busiest routes from RDU
Destination	Flights	On time	Score
RDU → ATL Atlanta	14,371	85.0%	75
RDU → CLT Charlotte	10,401	78.8%	62
RDU → LGA New York	10,234	75.2%	39
RDU → ORD Chicago	10,064	78.9%	58

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Only routes with at least 10,000 flights are ranked.

See all 8 routes to and from RDU →

Reliability over time

On-time arrival rate for departures, by month.

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), departures from RDU arrived on time 79.0% of the time, against 80.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026

Data and sources

Historical statistics

Every historical figure on this page is calculated by FlyerIntel from US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics on-time performance records covering July 2023 – July 2026, comprising 179,935 departures from RDU. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule.

Full methodology · All data sources

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

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Raleigh-Durham International Airport on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

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<a href="https://flyerintel.com/airports/rdu/"><img src="https://flyerintel.com/badge/airport/rdu/" alt="Raleigh-Durham International Airport on-time performance, from FlyerIntel"></a>

Live conditions

Aviation weather comes from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center. Operational events come from the FAA where available. FlyerIntel shows the age of every live value and does not display data it cannot currently retrieve.

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Latest observation for RDU: METAR KRDU 180951Z 01007KT 10SM CLR 05/02 A3044 RMK AO2 SLP308 T00500017 (issued 09:51 UTC).