Flight profile · American Airlines
AA978
Memphis (MEM) to Charlotte (CLT) · scheduled 5:00 AM – 7:57 AM
How AA978 performs
611 operations, November 2023 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on MEM → CLT, AA978 averaged about 4 operations a week (611 in 1,030 days, cancelled ones included).
AA978 arrived on time 87.9% of the time, against 79.8% for all MEM → CLT flights, so this departure is 8.1 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against American Airlines’ own flights on this route it is 6.6 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 611 operations, November 2023 – August 2026 · If AA978 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
Where AA978 is right now
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA978 | 87.9% | 1.64% | -11 min | 5.2% | 611 |
| American Airlines on MEM → CLT | 81.3% | 1.29% | -7 min | 7.0% | 5,128 |
| All MEM → CLT flights | 79.8% | 1.62% | -6 min | 7.6% | 5,940 |
AA978 cancelled 10 of 611 operations (1.64%), close to the 1.62% for MEM → CLT.
5.2% of AA978’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 7.6% across MEM → CLT, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · November 2023 – August 2026
Why AA978 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AA978 on MEM → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering November 2023 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies AA978 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
When the aircraft came in 15 or more minutes late, AA978 pushed back an average of 4 minutes late; when it came in on time or early, an average of 5 minutes late.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into MEM: 583 of 601 departures. Unknown, cancelled or diverted inbounds and gaps over 12 hours are left out.
Against the network at the same turn length
| Share of departures | Inbound landed 15+ late | Left 15+ late after a late inbound | Left 15+ late after an on-time inbound |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA978 | 38% | 9% | 10% |
| Network, same turn | 33% | 25% | 11% |
A long gap on the ground gives a late aircraft room to catch up before this flight pushes back.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 3 to 6 hours. How often AA978’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is higher than the network’s and, once the aircraft was late, how often AA978 left 15 or more minutes late is lower than the network’s.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering November 2023 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves MEM late, does that still matter by the time it reaches CLT?
AA978 pushes back an average of 7.3 minutes late and reaches the gate at CLT an average of 2.0 minutes late. The 5.2 minutes between those two figures are slack the published schedule already carries, so a late pushback is partly, not fully, made up before the gate. It spends 16.1 minutes on the taxiways at MEM, 1.9 minutes longer than a typical MEM departure in the same hour.
On arrival at CLT, AA978 spends 13.5 min taxiing from touchdown to the gate — ground time a connecting passenger sits through before they can even leave the aircraft, on top of however late the flight itself ran. That is about what any arrival at CLT spends on the ground before reaching the gate.
Taxi-out is gate to wheels up and sits inside the scheduled block; the hourly comparison is 5,529 MEM departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 633,359 arrivals at CLT. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · November 2023 – August 2026
The hour it leaves MEM
AA978 has one departure time, 5:00 AM, so this is what that hour at MEM is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 5,529 departures from MEM are scheduled in the 5 AM–6 AM hour over the period, against 74,899 across the whole day.
AA978 is scheduled out of MEM at 5:00 AM, in the 5 AM–6 AM bank. Departures from MEM in that hour arrive on time 89.2% of the time against 81.1% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 8.0 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from MEM, so they describe the slot, not this journey; the route comparison is above. Why the hour matters.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · November 2023 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
Other routes AA978 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. AA978 also served these 11 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLT→MCI Charlotte to Kansas City | May 19, 2026 | 1 | — |
| MCI→CLT Kansas City to Charlotte | May 19, 2026 | 1 | — |
| CLT→MEM Charlotte to Memphis | April 7, 2026 – May 12, 2026 | 6 | — |
| PHX→PHL Phoenix to Philadelphia | March 8, 2026 – April 6, 2026 | 30 | — |
| LGA→DFW New York to Dallas–Fort Worth | February 12, 2026 – March 7, 2026 | 24 | — |
| DCA→PBI Washington to West Palm Beach | January 6, 2026 – February 11, 2026 | 37 | — |
| ORD→LAX Chicago to Los Angeles | December 18, 2025 – January 5, 2026 | 17 | — |
| DCA→MIA Washington to Miami | December 3–17, 2025 | 15 | — |
| IND→LAX Indianapolis to Los Angeles | November 22–30, 2025 | 3 | — |
| MIA→LGA Miami to New York | November 2–19, 2025 | 18 | — |
| DCA→ORD Washington to Chicago | July 1, 2023 – November 4, 2024 | 342 | 81.4% |
The figures above describe only MEM → CLT, the route AA978 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
19 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 611 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering November 2023 – August 2026
Other flights on this route
Same airports, same journey, different odds of arriving on time.
| Flight | Airline | On time | Median arrival | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA978 this flight | American Airlines | 87.9% | 11 min early | 611 |
| AA1846 | American Airlines | 81.7% | 6 min early | 1,042 |
Among all 2 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, AA978 has the highest on-time rate. Every departure here has at least 600 operations; the other rows are the most punctual on the route, not all of them.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 611 records of AA978 operating MEM → CLT, published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule; cancelled and diverted flights are reported separately, not in the on-time rate.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: Most and Least Reliable Flight Numbers · The Delay You Inherit · Making Up Time in the Air
Analysis last recomputed