Raleigh/Durham to Boston

What the Data Says About RDU to BOS

The Raleigh/Durham to Boston corridor (RDU → BOS) covers roughly 612 miles and is served by 27 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 16,146 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 91.0 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 5,913 flights were recorded on this pairing — 67 cancelled (1.1%) and 3 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 27 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 16,146 total flights analyzed, the 81.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 91.0-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, Nov 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 90% on-time, while Sep 2025 came in at 67% on-time — a 23-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the RDU to BOS route, the combination of a 81.4% on-time rate, 91.0-minute average delay, 1.1% recent cancellation rate, and 27 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.