Holiday travel

Holiday travel at RDU

Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Raleigh–Durham, NC. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against RDU’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.

History, not a forecast. This shows what happened in past holiday windows. It cannot say what this year will bring, and each holiday appears only a few times in the data, so one bad storm can decide a whole year. Check your airline for your own flight.

The five holidays at RDU

At RDU, Thanksgiving ran furthest below ordinary days (−3.1 points) and July 4 furthest above (+5.3 points).

Each row pools every year of that holiday’s window at RDU and sets it against RDU’s own ordinary days of the same weekdays in the weeks around it. Open a holiday for its day-by-day figures.

The five holidays at RDU against its ordinary days
HolidayOn timeGap from usual, pointsCancelledWorst dayBest dayAll airports, gap
Thanksgiving3 times in the data79.5%usual 82.6%−3.1worseyears: 2 about the same, 1 worse0.51%usual 0.80%Sunday after (two of three)Friday after (three of three)−2.1worse
Christmas to New Year’s3 times in the data79.8%usual 79.4%+0.4about the sameyears: 2 better, 1 worse1.13%usual 1.53%December 27 (two of three)Moved each year−3.2worse
July 44 times in the data77.1%usual 71.8%+5.3betteryears: 2 better, 2 about the same2.26%usual 3.36%July 1 (two of four)Moved each year+5.2better
Memorial Day3 times in the data77.4%usual 77.2%+0.2about the sameyears: 1 better, 1 about the same, 1 worse0.93%usual 1.18%Memorial Day (two of three)Saturday before (two of three)−0.3about the same
Labor Day3 times in the data83.1%usual 79.9%+3.2betteryears: 2 better, 1 about the same1.31%usual 1.80%Moved each yearSunday before (two of three)+4.2better

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.