Route profile
CLT→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Salt Lake City, 1,727 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 50% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,940 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → SLC arrives on time 77.5% of the time; the return trip, SLC → CLT, arrives on time 83.2% of the time, a 5.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → SLC spends 26.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,727-mile trip: 19.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 7.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
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 92% of 3,357 comparable routes.
87.7% on time in a typical November, against 63.2% in May.
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 SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 83.7% arrive on time, 12 points ahead of the 71.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
CLT to SLC struggles most at 8 PM: 59.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6 points behind the 65.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
Sunday is the day CLT to SLC slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.0% on time where they average 75.4%, 5.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
In May, CLT to SLC runs 12.3 points below routes of similar length, 63.2% on time to 75.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
January is kinder to CLT to SLC than to routes of similar length: 84.7% on time against 78.6%, 6.1 points better.
CLT to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 83.7% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | +12.0 pts | 695 here, 93,586 there |
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 59.9% | routes of similar length | 65.9% | −6.0 pts | 262 here, 46,063 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 70.0% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | −5.4 pts | 407 here, 203,959 there |
| Month: May | 63.2% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | −12.3 pts | 220 here, 119,300 there |
| Month: January | 84.7% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +6.1 pts | 209 here, 97,697 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 1,727 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
44 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 2,940 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.92% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,907 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,940 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.5% of the time, against 70.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 87.8% on time from 206 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 82.9% on time from 344 flights
- 10 AM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 83.7% on time from 704 flights
- 6 PM: 77.4% on time from 649 flights
- 7 PM: 65.9% on time from 375 flights
- 8 PM: 59.9% on time from 266 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → SLC 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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → SLC, at 43.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 70.4%.
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 | 1,629 | 72.8% | 1.10% | -3 min | 9.7% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,311 | 83.4% | 0.69% | -8 min | 5.2% |
American Airlines flew 55.4% of the 2,940 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 10.6 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.7%
- Feb: 81.5%
- Mar: 81.1%
- Apr: 77.0%
- May: 63.2%
- Jun: 71.8%
- Jul: 68.5%
- Aug: 73.4%
- Sep: 82.1%
- Oct: 84.9%
- Nov: 87.7%
- Dec: 82.5%
May is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 24.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.2% against 77.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,940 CLT → SLC 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