Route profile
CLE→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Charlotte, 430 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 36% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,799 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → CLT arrives on time 79.8% of the time; the return trip, CLT → CLE, arrives on time 72.5% of the time, a 7.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → CLT spends 29.5 minutes on the ground on a 430-mile trip: 15.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 14.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to CLT struggles most at 7 PM: 58.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.1 points behind the 69.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
CLE to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 84.6% arrive on time, 8.9 points ahead of the 75.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
April is kinder to CLE to CLT than to routes of similar length: 85.2% on time against 80.0%, 5.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
In January, CLE to CLT runs 4.4 points below routes of similar length, 75.9% on time to 80.3%.
American Airlines does better on CLE to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 80.9% on time here, 74.3% there, 6.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
CLE to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 58.9% | routes of similar length | 69.0% | −10.1 pts | 477 here, 95,117 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 84.6% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +8.9 pts | 305 here, 90,711 there |
| Month: April | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 80.0% | +5.2 pts | 460 here, 130,225 there |
| Month: January | 75.9% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | −4.4 pts | 394 here, 115,741 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 80.9% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +6.6 pts | 5,044 here, 163,287 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 430 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why CLE → CLT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CLE → CLT cancelled 99 of 5,799 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 59. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 78.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 74 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 99 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
78 cancellations, 78.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
20 cancellations, 20.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.0% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
99 coded cancellations were recorded on CLE → CLT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 5,799 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 1.71% of the time and diverts 0.17% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,690 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,799 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → CLT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.6% of the time, against 61.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 90.7% on time from 222 flights
- 6 AM: 91.0% on time from 840 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 84.0% on time from 1,001 flights
- 9 AM: 86.3% on time from 473 flights
- 10 AM: 89.5% on time from 332 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 77.0% on time from 302 flights
- 1 PM: 79.9% on time from 454 flights
- 2 PM: 84.6% on time from 307 flights
- 3 PM: 69.9% on time from 372 flights
- 4 PM: 69.5% on time from 173 flights
- 5 PM: 72.5% on time from 305 flights
- 6 PM: 70.0% on time from 322 flights
- 7 PM: 58.9% on time from 486 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLE → CLT runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLE → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → CLT, at 48.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 87.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 61.5%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,127 | 80.9% | 1.44% | -7 min | 7.2% |
| PSA Airlines | 338 | 70.3% | 6.21% | -7 min | 12.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 320 | 72.8% | 1.25% | -6 min | 13.3% |
American Airlines flew 88.6% of the 5,785 flights listed. PSA Airlines cancelled 6.21% of its flights here against 1.25% for Frontier Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 10.6 percentage points more often than PSA Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA2021 American Airlines | 8:15 AM | 651 | 83.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 8.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.9%
- Feb: 84.4%
- Mar: 80.9%
- Apr: 85.2%
- May: 78.9%
- Jun: 71.5%
- Jul: 72.2%
- Aug: 75.7%
- Sep: 85.3%
- Oct: 86.8%
- Nov: 84.3%
- Dec: 79.4%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.8% from 187 flights
- August 2023: 71.0% from 198 flights
- September 2023: 79.8% from 174 flights
- October 2023: 89.5% from 190 flights
- November 2023: 88.6% from 151 flights
- December 2023: 91.1% from 146 flights
- January 2024: 79.4% from 148 flights
- February 2024: 88.1% from 143 flights
- March 2024: 77.3% from 155 flights
- April 2024: 81.9% from 157 flights
- May 2024: 72.3% from 171 flights
- June 2024: 70.6% from 167 flights
- July 2024: 58.3% from 171 flights
- August 2024: 75.5% from 166 flights
- September 2024: 85.6% from 155 flights
- October 2024: 85.4% from 158 flights
- November 2024: 85.2% from 142 flights
- December 2024: 75.5% from 155 flights
- January 2025: 74.5% from 149 flights
- February 2025: 82.4% from 134 flights
- March 2025: 85.4% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 86.1% from 151 flights
- May 2025: 82.2% from 167 flights
- June 2025: 73.1% from 159 flights
- July 2025: 78.0% from 162 flights
- August 2025: 81.8% from 163 flights
- September 2025: 91.5% from 142 flights
- October 2025: 85.1% from 161 flights
- November 2025: 79.8% from 175 flights
- December 2025: 71.3% from 139 flights
- January 2026: 73.1% from 129 flights
- February 2026: 82.2% from 123 flights
- March 2026: 80.0% from 150 flights
- April 2026: 87.7% from 154 flights
- May 2026: 82.5% from 154 flights
- June 2026: 70.9% from 148 flights
- July 2026: 74.3% from 152 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.1% against 80.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,799 CLE → CLT flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed