Wilmington to Charlotte

What the Data Says About ILM to CLT

The Wilmington to Charlotte corridor (ILM → CLT) covers roughly 185 miles and is served by 14 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 14,371 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 85.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 96.8 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 5,053 flights were recorded on this pairing — 86 cancelled (1.7%) and 3 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 14 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 14,371 total flights analyzed, the 85.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 96.8-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 94% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 65% on-time — a 29-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the ILM to CLT route, the combination of a 85.5% on-time rate, 96.8-minute average delay, 1.7% recent cancellation rate, and 14 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.