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Airport · RDU · Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina

Raleigh/Durham, NC

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU) ranks #36 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Raleigh/Durham, NC posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a high-volume U.S. airport.

Data updated 2026-06-13

81.6%
On-time
Top 71%
on-time, US airports
78 min
Delay when late
1.18%
Cancelled
#36 of 382
Corpus placement
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RDU on-time rate vs. the national average

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

0%100%U.S. average79%81.6%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 4,194,549.

Late Aircraft 41.9% (1,756,165 min)
Carrier 30.4% (1,277,182 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 23.9% (1,000,804 min)
Weather 3.8% (157,390 min)
Security 0.1% (3,008 min)

RDU - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: February (93.2%) · worst: July (87.4%)

86%88%90%92%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 90.8%

RDU - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

88%90%92%94%96%98% 202020212022202320242025 96.1% 90.2% ▼ -6.1%

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

Average taxi-out 17.6 min · taxi-in 6.8 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

15 min16 min17 min18 min19 min Jan 24Dec 25 17.9 min 18.7 min ▲ +4.5%

RDU's average taxi-out (17.6 min) sits near the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). Month-to-month, it swings from 16.1 min (August 2025) to 18.7 min (December 2025).

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Cancellation Rate

1.18%

7,264 of 616,332 flights

Diversion Rate

0.10%

602 of 616,332 flights

Delay Rate

18.4%

113,435 of 616,332 flights

Top Routes from RDU

Busiest routes to and from Raleigh/Durham, NC.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
ATL (Atlanta) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 25,309 83.4% 356 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → ATL (Atlanta) 25,294 87.4% 356 mi
LGA (New York) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 19,534 81.3% 431 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → LGA (New York) 19,530 79.6% 431 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → JFK (New York) 19,088 79.9% 427 mi
JFK (New York) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 19,083 80.6% 427 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → CLT (Charlotte) 18,338 82.6% 130 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 18,324 80% 130 mi
BOS (Boston) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 16,152 79.9% 612 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → BOS (Boston) 16,146 81.4% 612 mi
ORD (Chicago) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 15,273 80.3% 646 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → ORD (Chicago) 15,272 82% 646 mi
MCO (Orlando) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 13,970 77.8% 534 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → MCO (Orlando) 13,943 79.8% 534 mi
EWR (Newark) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 13,308 78.4% 416 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → EWR (Newark) 13,304 76% 416 mi
DCA (Washington) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 12,310 81.4% 227 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → DCA (Washington) 12,305 77.9% 227 mi
RDU (Raleigh/Durham) → MIA (Miami) 12,078 80.7% 700 mi
MIA (Miami) → RDU (Raleigh/Durham) 12,073 75.2% 700 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Raleigh/Durham, 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: 81.6%).

Houston, TX

Houston, TX

81.6% on-time 1,404,392 flights

Norfolk, VA

Norfolk, VA

81.6% on-time 231,501 flights

Richmond, VA

Richmond, VA

81.6% on-time 203,348 flights

Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, SD

81.6% on-time 83,262 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 616,332).

Washington, DC

Washington, VA

618,145 flights 84.1% on-time

Houston, TX

Houston, TX

618,821 flights 79.4% on-time

Honolulu, HI

Honolulu, HI

631,778 flights 84.6% on-time

Sacramento, CA

Sacramento, CA

592,833 flights 82.7% on-time

Other Airports in North Carolina

Compare performance with other North Carolina airports.

CLT 82%

Charlotte, NC

Charlotte · 2,345,248 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

RDU delay-share reading

The standout signal at Raleigh/Durham, NC is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 41.9% of 4,194,549 delay minutes across 616,332 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 81.6% (2.6 pts above the 79% national average), with 113,435 delayed and 7,264 cancelled (1.18%).

Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (41.9% late-aircraft, 30.4% carrier, 23.9% NAS, 3.8% weather, 0.1% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.

On the multi-year calendar, RDU is strongest in February (93.2% on-time) and weakest in July (87.4%), a 5.8-point swing. Volume peaks in March (~9,136 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to ATL (Atlanta) at 83.4% 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 RDU's data

RDU's on-time book sits in the slower half of the BTS set; check the delay mix and the worst month before treating the headline as typical.

  • Check the busiest route from RDU before you book a connection. See top routes
  • Travel in February rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns
  • Gate-to-wheels taxi-out averages 17.6 min here; check the monthly series before a tight connection. 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.