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Airport · CLT · Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, NC

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Charlotte, NC (CLT) ranks #5 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Charlotte, NC posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as one of the busiest U.S. airports.

Data updated 2026-06-13

82%
On-time
Top 67%
on-time, US airports
81 min
Delay when late
1.10%
Cancelled
#5 of 382
Corpus placement
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CLT on-time rate vs. the national average

Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.

0%100%U.S. average79%82%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 15,793,480.

Late Aircraft 44.3% (6,990,883 min)
Carrier 31.4% (4,952,949 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 16.4% (2,596,784 min)
Weather 7.6% (1,194,969 min)
Security 0.4% (57,895 min)

CLT - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: November (93.1%) · worst: July (85.1%)

84%86%88%90%92%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 90.3%

CLT - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

85%90%95%100% 202020212022202320242025 95.2% 88.2% ▼ -7.4%

CLT - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)

Average taxi-out 21.4 min · taxi-in 13.1 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

19 min20 min21 min22 min23 min24 min Jan 24Dec 25 19.8 min 20.1 min ▲ +1.5%

CLT's average taxi-out (21.4 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is October 2024 at 23.0 min; the lightest is January 2024 at 19.8 min.

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Charlotte, NC.

Cancellation Rate

1.10%

25,904 of 2,345,248 flights

Diversion Rate

0.11%

2,512 of 2,345,248 flights

Delay Rate

18.0%

421,203 of 2,345,248 flights

Top Routes from CLT

Busiest routes to and from Charlotte, NC.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
CLT (Charlotte) → ATL (Atlanta) 29,653 84.4% 226 mi
ATL (Atlanta) → CLT (Charlotte) 29,651 84.6% 226 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → LGA (New York) 28,574 77.9% 544 mi
LGA (New York) → CLT (Charlotte) 28,570 84% 544 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → MCO (Orlando) 27,975 75.4% 468 mi
MCO (Orlando) → CLT (Charlotte) 27,972 79.5% 468 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → BOS (Boston) 25,149 79.1% 728 mi
BOS (Boston) → CLT (Charlotte) 25,137 84.5% 728 mi
ORD (Chicago) → CLT (Charlotte) 24,230 81% 599 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → ORD (Chicago) 24,157 80% 599 mi
DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) → CLT (Charlotte) 21,899 77.1% 936 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) 21,878 79% 936 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → EWR (Newark) 21,468 74.8% 529 mi
EWR (Newark) → CLT (Charlotte) 21,424 80.8% 529 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → BNA (Nashville) 20,058 80.5% 328 mi
BNA (Nashville) → CLT (Charlotte) 20,030 79.8% 328 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → CLT (Charlotte) 19,924 81.4% 449 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → PHL (Philadelphia) 19,904 78.3% 449 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → DTW (Detroit) 19,721 84.6% 500 mi
DTW (Detroit) → CLT (Charlotte) 19,717 86.8% 500 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Charlotte, NC, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not same-state geography. Axes stay disjoint: volume peers exclude the on-time peer set. Same-state compare stays below.

Similar on-time rate

Nearest out-of-state BTS on-time rate (this airport: 82%).

Kansas City, MO

Kansas City, MO

82% on-time 524,365 flights

Cleveland, OH

Cleveland, OH

82% on-time 446,498 flights

Rochester, NY

Rochester, NY

82% on-time 126,934 flights

Lubbock, TX

Lubbock, TX

82% on-time 69,433 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 2,345,248).

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, CA

2,137,032 flights 82.8% on-time

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

2,030,209 flights 81.7% on-time

Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

1,986,833 flights 78% on-time

Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA

1,871,155 flights 83.1% on-time

Other Airports in North Carolina

Compare performance with other North Carolina airports.

RDU 81.6%

Raleigh/Durham, NC

Raleigh/Durham · 616,332 flights
GSO 84.6%

Greensboro/High Point, NC

Greensboro/High Point · 116,389 flights
AVL 80%

Asheville, NC

Asheville · 114,713 flights
ILM 83.9%

Wilmington, NC

Wilmington · 80,728 flights
FAY 86.9%

Fayetteville, NC

Fayetteville · 22,542 flights
OAJ 87.4%

Jacksonville/Camp Lejeune, NC

Jacksonville/Camp Lejeune · 20,873 flights
USA 72.4%

Concord, NC

Concord · 10,857 flights
EWN 85.7%

New Bern/Morehead/Beaufort, NC

New Bern/Morehead/Beaufort · 8,887 flights

CLT delay-share reading

The standout signal at Charlotte, NC is traffic scale: 2,345,248 BTS flights (2020–2025) place it #5 of 382 by book size. That busy-book footprint sits beside a 82% on-time rate (3 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average), 421,203 delayed departures, and 25,904 cancellations (1.10% of the book).

Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (44.3% late-aircraft, 31.4% carrier, 16.4% NAS, 7.6% weather, 0.4% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.

On the multi-year calendar, CLT is strongest in November (93.1% on-time) and weakest in July (85.1%), a 8.0-point swing. Volume peaks in March (~35,147 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to ATL (Atlanta) at 84.4% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.

Statewide aggregates for North Carolina: North Carolina flight data.

Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025). Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods. On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Using CLT's data

CLT's on-time book is mid-pack; month and delay-cause mix move more than the headline rate.

  • Check the busiest route from CLT before you book a connection. See top routes
  • Travel in November rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns
  • Build extra connection buffer when taxi-out spikes. October 2024 averaged 23.0 min. Taxi times

On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) On-Time Performance data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFlights

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Airline on-time performance and operational reliability · 2025

Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. Airport figures are computed directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.