Route profile
CLT→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Austin, 1,032 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 22% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,539 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → AUS arrives on time 73.1% of the time; the return trip, AUS → CLT, arrives on time 78.7% of the time, a 5.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → AUS spends 27.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,032-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 8.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
83.4% on time in a typical November, against 57.5% in July.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 76.6% arrive on time, 9.1 points ahead of the 67.5% those routes manage at that hour.
CLT to AUS struggles most at 6 PM: 59.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.1 points behind the 67.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
Saturday is the day CLT to AUS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.1% on time where they average 77.1%, 6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
In May, CLT to AUS runs 10.9 points below routes of similar length, 63.3% on time to 74.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
CLT to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 76.6% | routes of similar length | 67.5% | +9.1 pts | 218 here, 146,275 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 59.9% | routes of similar length | 67.0% | −7.1 pts | 347 here, 174,632 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.1% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −6.0 pts | 692 here, 368,499 there |
| Month: May | 63.3% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | −10.9 pts | 433 here, 229,446 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 1,032 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 CLT → AUS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CLT → AUS cancelled 72 of 5,539 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 77. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 91.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 84 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 72 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.
66 cancellations, 91.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
3 cancellations, 4.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
3 cancellations, 4.2% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
72 coded cancellations were recorded on CLT → AUS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
61 min late
against a median of 4 min early
CLT → AUS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 4 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 5,539 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.2% | Some 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 1.30% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,453 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 61 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,539 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → AUS flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.5% of the time, against 64.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 21.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 83.2% on time from 173 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 85.8% on time from 819 flights
- 10 AM: 85.7% on time from 147 flights
- 11 AM: 85.1% on time from 568 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 75.6% on time from 259 flights
- 2 PM: 74.1% on time from 291 flights
- 3 PM: 67.4% on time from 664 flights
- 4 PM: 76.6% on time from 221 flights
- 5 PM: 62.1% on time from 374 flights
- 6 PM: 59.9% on time from 351 flights
- 7 PM: 67.8% on time from 306 flights
- 8 PM: 64.4% on time from 592 flights
- 9 PM: 70.2% on time from 323 flights
- 10 PM: 58.6% on time from 290 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLT → AUS 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 CLT → AUS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → AUS, at 48.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 85.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.0%.
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 | 5,509 | 73.2% | 1.31% | -5 min | 10.3% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA434 American Airlines | 8:52 PM | 653 | 66.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.0%
- Feb: 81.4%
- Mar: 71.9%
- Apr: 78.1%
- May: 63.3%
- Jun: 68.1%
- Jul: 57.5%
- Aug: 70.8%
- Sep: 80.5%
- Oct: 77.5%
- Nov: 83.4%
- Dec: 77.1%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 25.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.2% from 173 flights
- August 2023: 76.0% from 180 flights
- September 2023: 81.0% from 165 flights
- October 2023: 79.0% from 176 flights
- November 2023: 82.1% from 146 flights
- December 2023: 80.0% from 145 flights
- January 2024: 65.8% from 147 flights
- February 2024: 83.3% from 138 flights
- March 2024: 71.0% from 169 flights
- April 2024: 78.2% from 144 flights
- May 2024: 53.1% from 153 flights
- June 2024: 68.8% from 171 flights
- July 2024: 44.2% from 179 flights
- August 2024: 71.6% from 176 flights
- September 2024: 77.7% from 167 flights
- October 2024: 78.6% from 174 flights
- November 2024: 92.5% from 149 flights
- December 2024: 77.1% from 144 flights
- January 2025: 82.1% from 128 flights
- February 2025: 81.0% from 122 flights
- March 2025: 76.5% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 81.6% from 141 flights
- May 2025: 69.6% from 148 flights
- June 2025: 65.0% from 146 flights
- July 2025: 64.1% from 148 flights
- August 2025: 62.6% from 134 flights
- September 2025: 83.5% from 128 flights
- October 2025: 74.5% from 162 flights
- November 2025: 76.0% from 157 flights
- December 2025: 74.3% from 152 flights
- January 2026: 75.9% from 127 flights
- February 2026: 79.5% from 125 flights
- March 2026: 68.2% from 149 flights
- April 2026: 74.6% from 143 flights
- May 2026: 67.4% from 139 flights
- June 2026: 70.8% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 60.8% from 121 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.4% against 76.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,539 CLT → AUS 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