Wilmington, NC

What the Data Says About ILM

Wilmington, NC in Wilmington, North Carolina handled 80,728 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 83.9% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 13,022 experienced delays, 1,140 were cancelled, and 92 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.41%, the diversion rate to 0.11%, and the average delay when departures run late is 80.2 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing ILM against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at ILM, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 41.4% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 31.2% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 18.6%. Weather contributes 8.8% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.1%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, November runs the cleanest at ILM with a 94.4% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 89.7% — a 5-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in July, when average flights hit 1,372. The busiest route from ILM is to ILM (Wilmington), with 14,374 flights at a 81.5% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 83.9% on-time, 80.2-minute average delay, 1.41% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Wilmington, NC.