CLT → RDU Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · CLTNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:52 UTC

Charlotte airport profile →

Destination · RDUNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Raleigh–Durham airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

55/ 100Fair

Better than 24% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 10,401 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

74.2%

7,597 of 10,232

Cancellation rate

1.56%

162 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-3 min

Average 13.3 min

Severe delays

9.1%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

71 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

10,401

1 carrier

CLT → RDU arrives on time 74.2% of the time; the return trip, RDU → CLT, arrives on time 78.8% of the time, a 4.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

CLT → RDU spends 23.6 minutes on the ground on a 130-mile trip: 17.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at RDU.

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.

84.7% on time in a typical November, against 58.5% 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.

Why CLT → RDU flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

CLT → RDU cancelled 162 of 10,401 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 64. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 85.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 75 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather85.2%

Airline13.0%

Air traffic1.9%

Security0.0%

Of 162 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 75

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

138 cancellations, 85.2% of the total.

The airline1 in 495

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

21 cancellations, 13.0% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 3,467

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

3 cancellations, 1.9% of the total.

Security—

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.

162 coded cancellations were recorded on CLT → RDU; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

55 min late

against a median of 3 min early

Arrived an hour or more late9.1%

Typical delay when late71 min

Cancelled1.56%

Landed somewhere else0.07%

Percentiles over 10,401 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at RDU after arriving from CLT.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, CLT → RDU arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	42%	Likely to miss
45 min	25%	High risk
60 min	17%	High risk
90 min	8.9%	Some risk
120 min	5.4%	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 1.56% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 10,232 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 55 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 10,401 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

CLT → RDU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.0% of the time, against 62.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.7 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (CLT).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.7 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 3.1 points.

On-time arrival rate for CLT to RDU by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 7 AM and after 11 PM (227 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for CLT to RDU. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	90.4% on time136 flights	98 flights, too few to score	118 flights, too few to score	91.3% on time150 flights	88.4% on time139 flights	86.0% on time129 flights	86.6% on time144 flights
8 AM–9 AM	64 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score	64 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score
9 AM–10 AM	86.2% on time138 flights	90.9% on time121 flights	96.8% on time128 flights	83.0% on time147 flights	86.6% on time136 flights	86.8% on time129 flights	85.1% on time149 flights
10 AM–11 AM	31 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score	40 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	26 flights, too few to score	20 flights, too few to score
11 AM–12 PM	86.0% on time130 flights	110 flights, too few to score	85.7% on time120 flights	80.6% on time139 flights	81.9% on time127 flights	84.2% on time122 flights	86.4% on time141 flights
12 PM–1 PM	26 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	19 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	77.3% on time153 flights	84.6% on time143 flights	84.5% on time151 flights	78.7% on time150 flights	75.5% on time152 flights	83.3% on time135 flights	78.5% on time152 flights
2 PM–3 PM	72.3% on time143 flights	73.9% on time120 flights	75.8% on time130 flights	71.3% on time151 flights	65.5% on time140 flights	70.2% on time142 flights	66.4% on time154 flights
3 PM–4 PM	19 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	7 flights, too few to score	19 flights, too few to score	13 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	70.7% on time142 flights	119 flights, too few to score	71.0% on time133 flights	70.0% on time151 flights	59.6% on time142 flights	66.7% on time139 flights	64.5% on time156 flights
5 PM–6 PM	31 flights, too few to score	45 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score
6 PM–7 PM	55.9% on time143 flights	109 flights, too few to score	67.8% on time122 flights	57.8% on time150 flights	65.0% on time142 flights	65.8% on time152 flights	62.7% on time155 flights
7 PM–8 PM	51 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	40 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	119 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	61.0% on time127 flights	61.3% on time120 flights	119 flights, too few to score	56.6% on time132 flights
9 PM–10 PM	60 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score
10 PM–11 PM	117 flights, too few to score	84 flights, too few to score	101 flights, too few to score	62.2% on time121 flights	59.7% on time122 flights	69.2% on time120 flights	59.5% on time124 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM88.0%

9 AM–12 PM86.2%

12–3 PM76.5%

3–6 PM68.6%

6–9 PM62.3%

9 PM–5 AM63.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why CLT → RDU runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft55.1%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline32.5%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control8.2%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather3.9%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.3%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLT → RDU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → RDU, at 55.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.0% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 62.3%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 4.6 times the normal rate at CLT against 2.6 times at RDU. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: CLT 5.7% against 1.2%, RDU 4.1% against 1.6%. Flights that did leave CLT in bad weather arrived on time 63.5% of the time, against 75.9% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from CLT and RDU in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	CLT	RDU
Cancelled in bad weather	5.7%	4.1%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	1.6%
Arrived on time, bad weather	63.5%	74.9%
Arrived on time, normal hours	75.9%	79.9%
Departures in bad weather	55,311	16,672

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from CLT and RDU, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad.

Weather source and limits. In full: CLT, RDU, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
American Airlines	10,368	74.3%	1.54%	-3 min	9.2%

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA494 American Airlines	11:00 PM	845	64.5%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon73.2%

Tue78.7%

Wed79.3%

Thu73.7%

Fri71.5%

Sat73.6%

Sun70.5%

Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.8 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 26.2 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.7% against 76.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 10,401 CLT → RDU 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

CLT airport RDU airport Return direction RDU → CLT

CLT→RDU

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why CLT → RDU flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why CLT → RDU runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology