76% of flights leaving Raleigh (RDU) arrived on time over the past 12 months, right at the national average of 76%. That ranks 46 of 76 large U.S. airports. About 174 flights leave RDU on a typical day; 2.6% were cancelled. 77% pushed back from the gate on time, so most of the lateness is already there when the flight leaves the gate.
At a glance
- Best hour to fly: 5 a.m. (92% on time). Worst: 8 p.m. (58%).
- Best month: October (83%). Worst: July (67%).
- Most reliable airline here: United Airlines (80%), vs Frontier Airlines at 71%.
- Biggest delay cause: late-arriving aircraft (43% of delay minutes).
- Year on year: getting worse (79% → 76%).
How late?
The on-time rate treats a flight 20 minutes late the same as one 5 hours late. Here's the split for flights leaving RDU: when a flight was late, it was under 45 minutes late 50% of the time. About 1 in 12 flights landed an hour or more late, and 1 in 53 three hours or more; 2.6% were cancelled outright.
- On time or early76%
- 15–30 min late7.1%
- 30–60 min late5.7%
- 1–2 hours late4.6%
- 2–3 hours late1.8%
- 3+ hours late1.9%
- Diverted0.2%
- Cancelled2.6%
Share of all 63,460 scheduled flights, past 12 months, by arrival time against schedule.
Best time of day to fly out of RDU
Time of day matters more at RDU than almost anything else you control. Flights scheduled to leave at 5 a.m. arrived on time 92% of the time; at 8 p.m. it was 58%, a 33-point gap. Taken together, early departures (5–9 a.m.) ran 87% on time against 63% for the evening bank (5–10 p.m.). Early planes usually start the day at the airport, so they haven't had a chance to pick up delays elsewhere. By evening a late inbound aircraft, a crew running out of duty hours or an afternoon thunderstorm can push one late flight into the next. Cancellations cluster too: 8 p.m. departures were cancelled 5.1% of the time, against 2.6% overall.
Hour × month
Combine the two and the spread is wider still. The most reliable combination at RDU was a 5 a.m. departure in October (94% on time); the least, 7 p.m. in July (46%). If you can only move one thing, move the hour. Departure hour usually shifts the odds more than the month does.
Each cell: on-time rate for that departure hour in that calendar month, 2023–2026. Find your travel month, then look along the row for the greenest hour.
Best and worst months
July is the hardest month at RDU, with 67% of flights on time across 2023–2026; October is the best at 83%. Summer (June–August) runs 11 points worse than autumn: heavy schedules, peak loads and afternoon thunderstorms. Winter costs 4 points against autumn. Cancellations peak in January (4.7% of flights).
Airlines at RDU
Delta Air Lines runs 31% of departures from RDU. Among airlines with at least 1,000 departures here, United Airlines was the most reliable (80% on time) and Frontier Airlines the least (71%), a 9-point difference. On a route where both fly, that difference is worth more than a small fare gap.
| Airline | Departures | On time | Left on time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 19,836 | 78% | 79% | 2.8% | −9 min |
| American Airlines | 18,776 | 73% | 75% | 3.3% | −7 min |
| Southwest Airlines | 8,886 | 79% | 74% | 1.3% | −5 min |
| United Airlines | 7,483 | 80% | 83% | 1.4% | −9 min |
| Frontier Airlines | 4,324 | 71% | 74% | 2.5% | −7 min |
| JetBlue | 3,064 | 72% | 73% | 4.1% | −8 min |
| Alaska Airlines | 686 | 75% | 75% | 1.0% | −4 min |
| Spirit Airlines | 405 | 59% | 54% | 7.6% | 0 min |
Why flights are late at RDU
Airlines report a cause for every flight that arrives 15 or more minutes late. At RDU, 43% of delay minutes came from late-arriving aircraft: the plane showed up late from its previous flight, so the delay started somewhere else. Next is the airlines themselves at 27%. That's why the first flight of the morning is the safest bet: it has no earlier flight to inherit a delay from. Of the 1,672 cancellations, 53% were blamed on weather.
The average taxi from gate to takeoff is 19 minutes, about typical for a large U.S. airport.
Month by month
Over the latest 12 months 76% of RDU departures were on time, against 79% in the 12 months before, a decline of 3 points. The best recent month was September 2025 (84%); the worst, July 2026 (68%).
Worst cancellation days
The worst single day in the past year was Sunday, Jan 25, 2026, when 100% of 163 scheduled departures were cancelled. Days like that are usually a major storm, a system outage or a holiday peak hitting bad weather. No average predicts them, so on a stormy forecast, check your airline's travel waivers.
| Date | Departures | Cancelled | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25, 2026 | 163 | 100% | 0% |
| Jan 31, 2026 | 128 | 63% | 28% |
| Jan 26, 2026 | 165 | 44% | 19% |
| Feb 1, 2026 | 162 | 33% | 41% |
| Feb 23, 2026 | 179 | 31% | 61% |
| Mar 16, 2026 | 178 | 24% | 33% |
| Jul 28, 2026 | 179 | 20% | 55% |
| Feb 22, 2026 | 181 | 19% | 57% |
| Jul 21, 2026 | 178 | 19% | 51% |
| Jan 27, 2026 | 144 | 18% | 52% |
Last flights of the day
The last flight of the day is a different bet. Across routes from RDU, each airline's final departure was cancelled 3.4% of the time, against 2.5% for its earlier flights (1.4× as often). Late in the day crews run short on duty hours, aircraft arrive late from elsewhere, and with no later flight to fold passengers into, cancelling is easier for the airline. 2.6% of last flights landed 3+ hours late. The riskiest last flight out was Delta Air Lines to New York (9.6% cancelled).
| Last flight to | Airline | Leaves | Cancelled | 3h+ late | On time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA New York | Delta Air Lines | 7:59 p.m. | 9.6% | 5.5% | 58% |
| DCA Washington | American Airlines | 8:04 p.m. | 8.8% | 3.6% | 39% |
| EWR Newark | Delta Air Lines | 5:00 p.m. | 7.7% | 4.7% | 55% |
| PHL Philadelphia | Frontier Airlines | 7:46 p.m. | 8.8% | 3.4% | 63% |
| LGA New York | American Airlines | 8:11 p.m. | 9.9% | 1.9% | 52% |
| JFK New York | JetBlue | 5:50 p.m. | 7.6% | 3.9% | 54% |
| JFK New York | American Airlines | 7:37 p.m. | 7.2% | 3.3% | 52% |
| JFK New York | Delta Air Lines | 7:55 p.m. | 8.8% | 1.6% | 55% |
| PHL Philadelphia | American Airlines | 7:34 p.m. | 7.1% | 3.3% | 61% |
| DCA Washington | Delta Air Lines | 7:50 p.m. | 7.5% | 2.0% | 45% |
| BOS Boston | JetBlue | 2:15 p.m. | 4.6% | 3.5% | 61% |
| DFW Dallas | American Airlines | 7:26 p.m. | 5.0% | 3.0% | 64% |
Each airline's last scheduled departure of the day on a route, on days it flies the route at least twice; past 12 months. Riskiest first.
Tips for flying out of RDU
- Book the earliest departure you can live with. At RDU the 5 a.m. flights do best.
- Traveling in July? Leave extra slack for anything that can't move: cruises, weddings, the last connection of the day.
- Choosing between airlines? United Airlines has the better record here.
- Need to arrive tonight? Don't book the last flight out of RDU; the one before it leaves you a backup.
- Delayed already? Most delays at RDU come from late-arriving aircraft. If your inbound plane is late, your flight will be too, whatever the board says.
Routes from RDU
Where you're going matters too. From RDU, the most reliable busy route was to Detroit (DTW, 87% on time) and the least reliable to Washington (DCA, 57%). Flights into congested airports inherit their delays: an air traffic program at the destination holds planes on the ground here.
Least reliable first. Routes with at least 365 flights a year.
| To | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA Washington | 3,017 | 57% | 5.2% | +4 min |
| LGA New York | 4,339 | 65% | 6.6% | −4 min |
| SJU San Juan | 467 | 70% | 2.4% | −4 min |
| JFK New York | 3,672 | 70% | 5.7% | −6 min |
| ORD Chicago | 3,740 | 72% | 2.8% | −5 min |
| PHL Philadelphia | 2,705 | 72% | 4.0% | −8 min |
| EWR Newark | 2,872 | 73% | 3.7% | −8 min |
| DAL Dallas | 417 | 75% | 1.2% | −2 min |
| FLL Fort Lauderdale | 1,414 | 75% | 2.3% | −7 min |
| MDW Chicago | 960 | 76% | 1.8% | −3 min |
| BOS Boston | 2,847 | 76% | 2.9% | −11 min |
| MIA Miami | 2,383 | 76% | 1.7% | −8 min |
| MCO Orlando | 2,695 | 76% | 1.8% | −6 min |
| SEA Seattle | 918 | 77% | 1.2% | −4 min |
| SFO San Francisco | 884 | 77% | 0.4% | −8 min |
| DFW Dallas | 2,263 | 77% | 2.4% | −7 min |
| BNA Nashville | 2,852 | 78% | 1.6% | −6 min |
| MCI Kansas City | 395 | 78% | 3.3% | −8 min |
| LAX Los Angeles | 788 | 80% | 0.8% | −8 min |
| PHX Phoenix | 832 | 80% | 1.0% | −7 min |
| STL St. Louis | 664 | 80% | 0.3% | −7 min |
| PIT Pittsburgh | 723 | 81% | 1.7% | −10 min |
| TPA Tampa | 1,294 | 81% | 2.1% | −11 min |
| CLT Charlotte | 3,030 | 81% | 1.6% | −9 min |
| IND Indianapolis | 377 | 81% | 1.6% | −11 min |
| DEN Denver | 1,734 | 81% | 0.8% | −7 min |
| AUS Austin | 1,227 | 81% | 0.7% | −9 min |
| LAS Las Vegas | 554 | 82% | 0.9% | −7 min |
| MSP Minneapolis | 1,234 | 82% | 1.3% | −8 min |
| BWI Baltimore | 1,763 | 83% | 2.2% | −9 min |
| SLC Salt Lake City | 373 | 83% | 1.1% | −7 min |
| ATL Atlanta | 4,650 | 85% | 1.6% | −10 min |
| IAD Washington | 1,441 | 85% | 1.3% | −10 min |
| IAH Houston | 1,279 | 85% | 1.1% | −13 min |
| DTW Detroit | 1,496 | 87% | 1.5% | −12 min |
Flights into RDU
Arriving rather than leaving? These are the routes into Raleigh-Durham, least reliable first. The weakest is from Dallas (63% on time).
| From | Flights | On time | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAL Dallas | 416 | 63% | 1.7% |
| DCA Washington | 3,018 | 65% | 4.8% |
| FLL Fort Lauderdale | 1,414 | 66% | 2.2% |
| LGA New York | 4,341 | 68% | 6.1% |
| MCI Kansas City | 396 | 69% | 3.8% |
| JFK New York | 3,673 | 69% | 6.2% |
| DFW Dallas | 2,266 | 69% | 2.3% |
| MIA Miami | 2,381 | 70% | 1.6% |
| PHX Phoenix | 832 | 70% | 1.1% |
| ORD Chicago | 3,742 | 71% | 2.3% |
| EWR Newark | 2,873 | 72% | 3.8% |
| PHL Philadelphia | 2,702 | 73% | 3.1% |
| BOS Boston | 2,848 | 73% | 2.9% |
| BNA Nashville | 2,851 | 74% | 2.0% |
| MCO Orlando | 2,695 | 75% | 1.8% |
| DEN Denver | 1,732 | 75% | 0.7% |
| LAX Los Angeles | 788 | 76% | 0.6% |
| AUS Austin | 1,227 | 76% | 0.8% |
| CLT Charlotte | 3,029 | 76% | 1.5% |
| MDW Chicago | 960 | 78% | 2.0% |
| BWI Baltimore | 1,765 | 79% | 2.6% |
| STL St. Louis | 664 | 79% | 0.1% |
| ATL Atlanta | 4,649 | 79% | 1.6% |
| IND Indianapolis | 377 | 79% | 1.1% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 553 | 79% | 1.3% |
Showing the 25 least reliable of 35 routes into RDU.
Questions about RDU delays
What is the best time to fly out of RDU?
Flights scheduled at 5 a.m.: over the past year 92% of RDU departures at that hour arrived on time, against 58% at 8 p.m., the worst hour.
What month has the most flight delays at RDU?
July (67% on time). October is the best month (83%).
Which airline is most on time at RDU?
United Airlines: 80% of its RDU departures arrived on time over the past year. Frontier Airlines had the weakest record at 71%.
Why are flights delayed at RDU?
The biggest cause was late-arriving aircraft (43% of delay minutes): the plane showed up late from its previous flight, so the delay started somewhere else. Then the airlines themselves (27%).
How often are flights cancelled at RDU?
2.6% of scheduled departures over the past 12 months, peaking in January at 4.7%.
Hours are scheduled local departure times. "On time" means arriving less than 15 minutes late at the destination; cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time. Method.