Airport month record

CLTAPR

Charlotte Douglas International in April 2026

Departures: 15,396
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 10

Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at CLT, see live FAA status.

CLT in April lands a B+, about a point worse than the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 15,396 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 449 at 91.0% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 91.0% on time across 449 flights.

On time

78.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 15,323 completed departures

Avg delay

64 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.23%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

76.7%

CLT across all twelve months

These figures cover 15,396 departures from Charlotte Douglas International in April 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

April next to CLT's other months

Against CLT's own year, April ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.7%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CLT in April, at 0.23% against 2.01% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 75.7% on time and May 77.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

CLT month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	16,447	65.7%	79 min	2.31%	C
August 2025	15,628	72.8%	71 min	0.91%	C+
September 2025	15,192	84.0%	67 min	0.37%	B+
October 2025	16,273	81.2%	65 min	0.23%	B+
November 2025	14,945	81.1%	69 min	1.45%	B
December 2025	14,975	73.3%	67 min	0.82%	C+
January 2026	14,222	80.7%	73 min	10.98%	B−
February 2026	13,192	78.7%	70 min	3.43%	B−
March 2026	15,278	75.7%	76 min	2.38%	B
April 2026 (this page)	15,396	78.8%	64 min	0.23%	B+
May 2026	15,778	77.4%	64 min	0.30%	B+
June 2026	15,079	72.1%	77 min	1.67%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave CLT in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,458 flights90.0%
8am–11am2,337 flights86.3%
11am–2pm2,914 flights81.8%
2pm–5pm2,694 flights74.7%
5pm–8pm2,492 flights72.3%
8pm–5am3,501 flights74.4%

Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.0% of the time, against 72.3% for the evening window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 3,501 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 72.6%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLT in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 91.0% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 78.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,021 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLT in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlines	9,893	78.7%	62 min	0.08%	B+
PSA Airlines	3,021	78.6%	61 min	0.20%	B+
Envoy Air	490	81.9%	59 min	0.20%	B+
Delta Air Lines	449	91.0%	88 min	0.89%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	320	63.4%	73 min	3.12%	D−
Republic Airwaysthin sample	261	86.2%	58 min	0.00%	A+
Southwest Airlinesthin sample	261	82.3%	56 min	0.00%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	256	70.6%	59 min	1.56%	C
United Airlinesthin sample	245	80.2%	68 min	1.22%	B
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	200	72.0%	132 min	0.00%	C+

The spread between Delta and PSA is 12 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 12 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of CLT in April

Routes from CLT in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLT to MCO · Orlando	468	71.0%	54 min	0.21%	C+
CLT to ORD · Chicago	403	69.8%	84 min	1.99%	C
CLT to ATL · Atlantathin sample	360	87.7%	68 min	0.56%	A+
CLT to BOS · Bostonthin sample	338	82.0%	48 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	336	76.8%	65 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	334	81.3%	47 min	0.60%	B+
CLT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	312	74.8%	62 min	0.00%	C+
CLT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	310	76.2%	61 min	0.65%	B+
CLT to MIA · Miamithin sample	308	80.3%	94 min	0.97%	B+
CLT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	305	76.2%	52 min	0.66%	B+
CLT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	293	88.0%	90 min	0.68%	A+
CLT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	292	79.4%	77 min	0.34%	B+
CLT to TPA · Tampathin sample	283	77.5%	67 min	1.06%	B
CLT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	265	78.1%	61 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	260	82.7%	58 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	244	79.8%	73 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to DEN · Denverthin sample	233	83.2%	53 min	0.43%	B+
CLT to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	225	77.3%	54 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to IAH · Houstonthin sample	217	74.9%	62 min	0.92%	C+
CLT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	207	74.9%	52 min	0.00%	C+
CLT to RIC · Richmondthin sample	205	78.5%	72 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	197	91.4%	71 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	193	79.3%	58 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to CHS · Charlestonthin sample	192	81.2%	74 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample	188	77.4%	61 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held CLT up in April

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 207,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
48%
Carrier
34%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

48% 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 207,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 28 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 207,053 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.23%, below the national 0.90% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

6.7% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from CLT in April

For a April trip through CLT: expect 78.8% on time and 0.23% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Charlotte Douglas International (CLT), the whole year
CLT in July65.7%
CLT in August72.8%
CLT in September84.0%
CLT in October81.2%
CLT in November81.1%
CLT in December73.3%
CLT in January80.7%
CLT in February78.7%
CLT in March75.7%
CLT in May77.4%
CLT in June72.1%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures