Carrier performance at one airport
YX→RDU
Republic Airways at Raleigh-Durham International
- Departures
- 7,682
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
- Routes
- 12
- Rank here
- #6 of 11
Republic Airways at Raleigh carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.8% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 7,682 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 12,031 at 85.1% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Republic Airways runs 5 points behind the 78.9% weighted average across all carriers at RDU. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
74.3%
7,343 completed departures
Avg delay
75 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
4.13%
At RDU, this carrier only
Rank here
#6
Of 11 carriers clearing the floor at RDU
These figures cover 7,682 flights between July 2025 and June 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 10.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at RDU, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 85.1% of the time; Spirit Airlines manages 64.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 578 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 12,031 | 85.1% | 80 min | 1.63% | A |
| United Airlines | 6,263 | 81.1% | 87 min | 1.23% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 9,026 | 80.4% | 54 min | 1.38% | B |
| American Airlines | 9,574 | 79.7% | 96 min | 2.06% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 2,908 | 76.9% | 78 min | 2.89% | B |
| Republic Airways (this page) | 7,682 | 74.3% | 75 min | 4.13% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 4,205 | 73.1% | 93 min | 2.59% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 625 | 72.6% | 46 min | 1.60% | C |
| Envoy Air | 1,090 | 70.9% | 75 min | 3.30% | C− |
| PSA Airlines | 1,528 | 65.4% | 77 min | 5.24% | C− |
| Spirit Airlines | 578 | 64.6% | 81 min | 6.23% | D− |
Spirit Airlines cancels 6.2% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where Republic Airways flies from RDU
Republic Airways operates 12 routes out of RDU with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDU to LGA · New York | 2,134 | 69.3% | 83 min | 6.42% | C− |
| RDU to JFK · New York | 1,437 | 77.0% | 71 min | 4.45% | B− |
| RDU to ORD · Chicago | 1,018 | 70.7% | 75 min | 3.63% | C− |
| RDU to BNA · Nashville | 954 | 78.9% | 73 min | 2.20% | B |
| RDU to PIT · Pittsburgh | 678 | 81.8% | 63 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| RDU to DCA · Washington | 497 | 59.4% | 72 min | 5.43% | D− |
| RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 239 | 86.1% | 50 min | 3.35% | A− |
| RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 216 | 85.0% | 66 min | 3.70% | A− |
| RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 213 | 81.6% | 74 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 137 | 80.0% | 94 min | 5.11% | B− |
| RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 129 | 81.2% | 38 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample | 30 | 58.6% | 49 min | 3.33% | D− |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 21 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,242 flights87.0%
- 8am–11am1,170 flights87.9%
- 11am–2pm1,185 flights72.7%
- 2pm–5pm1,759 flights72.4%
- 5pm–8pm1,862 flights62.9%
- 8pm–5am464 flights61.8%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 61.8% on time, against 87.9% for the 8am–11am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 1,862 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
December is the weak month at 66.8% on time, against 83.9% in May. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. May was the busiest month here, with 710 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 43%Late-arriving aircraft
- 35%National Airspace System
- 17%Carrier
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
43% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 140,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 140,470 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.13%, against 1.81% nationally. That is about one flight in 25 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.1% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 7,682 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 4.13% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you a little over an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 8am–11am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic. 7,343 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Republic Airways at RDU
How often is Republic Airways at RDU delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 25.7% of the 7,682 flights in this analysis, against 22.4% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Republic Airways at RDU?
Delta Air Lines leads at 85.1% on time across 12,031 flights. Spirit Airlines is at the other end on 64.6%, a gap of 21 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Republic Airways at RDU?
The 8am–11am departure window is the strongest at 87.9% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 61.8%, 26 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Republic Airways at RDU?
December is the weakest month at 66.8% on time, compared with 83.9% in May. Across the year that is 17 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- Republic Airways network-wide record
- Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) all carriers
- RDU to LGA route record69.3%
- RDU to JFK route record77.0%
- RDU to ORD route record70.7%
- RDU to BNA route record78.9%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.04 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.