Charlotte to Raleigh/Durham

What the Data Says About CLT to RDU

The Charlotte to Raleigh/Durham corridor (CLT → RDU) covers roughly 130 miles and is served by 10 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 18,324 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80% on-time rate with an average delay of 70.3 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 7,023 flights were recorded on this pairing — 104 cancelled (1.5%) and 2 diverted (0.0%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 10 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 18,324 total flights analyzed, the 80% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 70.3-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Jan 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 87% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 50% on-time — a 37-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the CLT to RDU route, the combination of a 80% on-time rate, 70.3-minute average delay, 1.5% recent cancellation rate, and 10 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.