Raleigh/Durham to New York

What the Data Says About RDU to JFK

The Raleigh/Durham to New York corridor (RDU → JFK) covers roughly 427 miles and is served by 19 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 19,088 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 79.9% on-time rate with an average delay of 80.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 6,333 flights were recorded on this pairing — 189 cancelled (3.0%) and 8 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 19 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 19,088 total flights analyzed, the 79.9% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 80.1-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 87% on-time, while Jun 2025 came in at 69% on-time — a 18-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the RDU to JFK route, the combination of a 79.9% on-time rate, 80.1-minute average delay, 3.0% recent cancellation rate, and 19 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.