Best time to fly out of Raleigh-Durham (RDU)
The early-flight folk wisdom holds up at Raleigh-Durham: departures in the Before 6am band left on time 93.3% of the time, against 64% in the 10pm–12am band. These are historical odds, not forecasts. The records say what happened on this schedule over three years; they know nothing about tomorrow’s thunderstorm.
Data through June 2026 · Bureau of Transportation Statistics
On-time rate by hour and day
On this page, “on time” means a departure that pushed back less than 15 minutes behind its scheduled time — the Bureau of Transportation Statistics definition, and the one airlines are held to.
| Departure time | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 6am | 93 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 94 | 92 | 93 |
| 6–8am | 91 | 92 | 92 | 93 | 91 | 92 | 91 |
| 8–10am | 87 | 89 | 90 | 89 | 88 | 86 | 88 |
| 10am–12pm | 84 | 86 | 87 | 85 | 84 | 82 | 84 |
| 12–2pm | 80 | 83 | 83 | 79 | 77 | 80 | 78 |
| 2–4pm | 74 | 79 | 80 | 76 | 73 | 77 | 72 |
| 4–6pm | 70 | 74 | 75 | 68 | 66 | 74 | 68 |
| 6–8pm | 69 | 75 | 73 | 68 | 65 | 67 | 63 |
| 8–10pm | 65 | 74 | 72 | 63 | 66 | 65 | 58 |
| 10pm–12am | 60 | – | – | 66 | 69 | – | 63 |
The steadiest stretch at RDU was Before 6am — 93.3% of departures left on time across 7,516 flights. The weakest was 10pm–12am at 64%. 6–8am departures from RDU left on time 91.4% of the time across 38,000 flights; 6–8pm departures, 68.3% across 24,912. That is a gap of 23.1 points, and it is the whole case for the early flight.
The year at RDU
July was the hard month at RDU: 70.1% of departures left on time, across 15,940 flights. November was the easy one at 85.1%. Each month pools three years of that month, so a single bad week does not decide it.
| Month | Share departures that left on time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| January | 82.5% | 12,858 |
| February | 84.6% | 12,049 |
| March | 79.9% | 14,067 |
| April | 82.9% | 14,289 |
| May | 79.6% | 15,173 |
| June | 76.4% | 14,988 |
| July | 70.1% | 15,940 |
| August | 76.9% | 15,720 |
| September | 83.9% | 14,843 |
| October | 84.9% | 15,834 |
| November | 85.1% | 14,846 |
| December | 79.8% | 14,541 |
Airlines at RDU
Every airline with at least 100 departures from RDU, busiest first. These are that airline’s departures from this airport only — its record across the country sits on its own page.
| Airline | Left on time | Typical delay | Cancelled | Departures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 84.1% | 80 min | 1.1% | 34,551 |
| American Airlines | 79.4% | 96 min | 1.7% | 31,917 |
| Southwest Airlines | 78.1% | 50 min | 0.9% | 27,020 |
| Republic Airways | 83.7% | 80 min | 2.9% | 19,880 |
| United Airlines | 84.5% | 91 min | 1.2% | 17,635 |
| Frontier Airlines | 73.8% | 90 min | 2.8% | 13,175 |
| Endeavor Air | 82.5% | 85 min | 3% | 9,946 |
| JetBlue Airways | 74.1% | 85 min | 2.2% | 9,335 |
| Envoy Air | 83.5% | 75 min | 1.8% | 3,874 |
| PSA Airlines | 73.3% | 93 min | 4.1% | 3,020 |
| Alaska Airlines | 75% | 50 min | 1.3% | 1,672 |
| Spirit Airlines | 63% | 76 min | 3.6% | 1,594 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 80.2% | 86 min | 0.7% | 1,529 |
Spirit Airlines (through May 2026) and Endeavor Air (through December 2024) stopped filing before June 2026. Their rows cover a shorter run of months than the rest of the table, so their figures are not set against the others anywhere on this page.
What delays out of RDU were put down to
Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 35,075 flights that departed RDU and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 43.8% put down to late-arriving aircraft and 28% to airline operations.
- Late-arriving aircraft 43.8%
- Airline operations 28%
- Air traffic & airport volume 24.3%
- Severe weather 3.7%
- Security 0.1%
Late-arriving aircraft is the knock-on category: the plane came in late, so it went out late again. It is why a 7am problem in Newark is still a problem in Denver at dinnertime, and why it is usually the biggest slice on the bar.
If you are connecting through RDU
Of 175,144 scheduled arrivals into RDU, 76.1% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 38,565 arrivals that ran late, 52.8% were no more than 45 minutes behind — which is the difference between a tight connection and a new boarding pass.
Work out a specific layover — pick the airport and the minutes you have, and the tool reads the same arrival records back as a share.
Busiest routes out of RDU
Ranked by flights, with the share that arrived on time at the far end. Where a route carries enough flights for a page of its own the chip goes there; otherwise it goes to the destination airport.
- ATL 85.2% on time · 13,961 flights
- CLT 79.1% on time · 10,134 flights
- LGA 75.2% on time · 10,100 flights
- ORD 79.2% on time · 9,723 flights
- JFK 77.8% on time · 9,666 flights
- BOS 79% on time · 8,787 flights
- MCO 77.4% on time · 8,207 flights
- PHL 73.7% on time · 7,333 flights
- MIA 78.3% on time · 7,224 flights
- DCA 71% on time · 7,103 flights
RDU in one number
Raleigh-Durham (RDU)
Rank 34 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: Before 6am. Hardest month: July.
Questions about RDU
- What is the best time of day to fly out of Raleigh-Durham?
- Before 6am. Departures in that band left on time 93.3% of the time across 7,516 flights, July 2023 through June 2026 — the best of the ten bands in the day. The 10pm–12am band was the weakest at 64%.
- Is the early flight out of RDU really more reliable?
- 6–8am departures from RDU left on time 91.4% of the time across 38,000 flights; 6–8pm departures, 68.3% across 24,912. That is a gap of 23.1 points, and it is the whole case for the early flight.
- What is the worst month to fly out of RDU?
- July: 70.1% of the departures that flew left on time, with 15,940 scheduled. November was the other end of the year at 85.1%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
- Which airline is most on time at RDU?
- United Airlines — 84.5% of its 17,635 departures from RDU left on time. PSA Airlines sat at the other end at 73.3% over 3,020 flights. Only airlines with at least 100 departures here are ranked. Airlines that stopped filing before June 2026 are left out of the ranking — their figures cover a shorter run of months than the rest of the table.
- How often are flights cancelled at RDU?
- 1.8% of scheduled departures were cancelled over July 2023 through June 2026. Cancellations are counted against everything scheduled, not against everything that flew — a rate that looks small still adds up to real people in a rebooking line.