Holiday travel
Memorial Day at CLT
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, NC. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against CLT’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs the Saturday through the Monday, around Memorial Day (the last Monday of May). In the data: May 25–27, 2024; May 24–26, 2025; May 23–25, 2026. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, Memorial Day flights were better in one, about the same in one, and worse in one of the three years. The gap ran from 6.8 points below usual in 2024 to 14.0 points above usual in 2025.
0.36% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Memorial Day windows, against 0.84% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in two of the three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024May 25–27, 2024 | 1,765 | 62.8% | 69.6% | −6.8worse | 0.51% | 0.85% |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 1,702 | 83.6% | 69.6% | +14.0better | 0.18% | 0.84% |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 1,488 | 71.2% | 69.6% | +1.6about the same | 0.40% | 0.84% |
| All years3 windows | 4,955 | 72.5% | 69.6% | +2.9better | 0.36% | 0.84% |
Day by day
No day was the worst more than once: Sunday, May 26 in 2024, Monday, May 26 in 2025, and Saturday, May 23 in 2026.
Memorial Day was the best day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 75.1% on time, 4.4 points above an ordinary Monday.
- Better than usual
- Worse than usual
- About the same
- What ordinary days of the same weekday had
- Lowest to highest single year
- Lighter bars: days just outside the window
Bars show the on-time arrival rate and start at 50%, not zero. A dashed stub is a day with too few flights to print a rate.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2024, 2025, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | 2% more | 63.4% | 66.0% | −2.6worse | 0.79% | 55.4 · 72.0 · 63.4 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | 3% more | 72.4% | 67.8% | +4.6better | 0.50% | 64.6 · 83.1 · 70.1 |
| Saturday before | about the same | 73.7% | 67.7% | +6.0better | 0.06% | 65.4 · 90.3 · 65.7 |
| Sunday before | 4% fewer | 68.7% | 70.3% | −1.6about the same | 0.60% | 54.4 · 81.5 · 70.6 |
| Memorial Day | 2% fewer | 75.1% | 70.7% | +4.4better | 0.41% | 68.7 · 79.8 · 76.9 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | 2% more | 70.0% | 74.6% | −4.6worse | 0.78% | 65.9 · 74.4 · 69.8 |
A dash means fewer than 120 flights stood behind the figure, or behind the ordinary days it would be compared with: too few to print a rate, and nothing is estimated in its place. “Usual” is what ordinary days of the same weekday had at the same place in the weeks around the holiday, weighted by the flights being compared.
Which departure times held up
The busiest days at CLT were Saturday, May 25, 2024 (596 departures), Monday, May 27, 2024 (586 departures), Sunday, May 25, 2025 (575 departures), Monday, May 26, 2025 (600 departures), Sunday, May 24, 2026 (502 departures), and Monday, May 25, 2026 (516 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 89.2%, 2.6 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 61.2%, still 4.1 points above usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 12–3 PM did best (+5.8 points) and those leaving 3–6 PM did worst (−0.4 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 91.4%, 4.1 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 63.1%, about level with usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 6–9 PM did best (+7.2 points) and those leaving 3–6 PM did worst (−0.4 points).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 89.2% | 86.6% | +2.6about the same | 91.4% | 87.3% | +4.1better |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 83.5% | 79.8% | +3.7better | 83.0% | 80.5% | +2.5about the same |
| 12–3 PM | 79.3% | 73.5% | +5.8better | 79.4% | 73.9% | +5.5better |
| 3–6 PM | 63.1% | 63.5% | −0.4about the same | 63.1% | 63.5% | −0.4about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 61.2% | 57.1% | +4.1better | 64.5% | 57.3% | +7.2better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 62.9% | 59.4% | +3.5about the same | 65.4% | 59.9% | +5.5better |
CLT beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts CLT’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether CLT did better or worse than the network.
| Year | CLT on time | CLT, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024May 25–27, 2024 | 62.8% | −6.8 | 72.7% | −2.3 |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 83.6% | +14.0 | 76.4% | +1.4 |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 71.2% | +1.6 | 75.0% | 0.0 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at CLT, or the network view.