Asheville, NC

What the Data Says About AVL

Asheville, NC in Asheville, North Carolina handled 114,713 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 80% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 22,985 experienced delays, 1,787 were cancelled, and 165 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.56%, the diversion rate to 0.14%, and the average delay when departures run late is 80.5 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing AVL against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at AVL, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 38.7% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 32.4% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 20.8%. Weather contributes 7.9% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.2%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, February runs the cleanest at AVL with a 92.9% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 85.5% — a 7-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in July, when average flights hit 1,891. The busiest route from AVL is to AVL (Asheville), with 11,365 flights at a 87% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 80% on-time, 80.5-minute average delay, 1.56% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Asheville, NC.