Airport month record

CLTAUG

Charlotte Douglas International in August 2025

Departures: 15,628
Month: August 2025
National, same month: 77.4%
Carriers: 10

Historical statistics for August 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at CLT, see live FAA status.

CLT in August sits in the middle of the pack with a C+. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 5 points worse than the national rate of 77.4%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 15,628 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 495 at 88.4% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 88.4% on time across 495 flights.

On time

72.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 15,437 completed departures

Avg delay

71 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.91%

Nationally in August: 1.08%

Whole year

76.7%

CLT across all twelve months

These figures cover 15,628 departures from Charlotte Douglas International in August 2025. 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

August next to CLT's other months

Against CLT's own year, August ran 4 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.7%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CLT in August, at 0.91% against 2.01% across the year. Either side of it, July ran 65.7% on time and September 84.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 August

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,007 flights87.4%
8am–11am2,701 flights85.9%
11am–2pm2,793 flights80.5%
2pm–5pm3,050 flights67.3%
5pm–8pm2,783 flights61.8%
8pm–5am3,294 flights65.1%

Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 61.8% on time, against 87.4% for the 5am–8am 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 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 3,294 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 79.5% on time and Monday the weakest at 66.8%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLT in August

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.4% of the time; American Airlines manages 68.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,480 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLT in August 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlines	9,480	68.5%	70 min	0.81%	C+
PSA Airlines	3,657	78.9%	66 min	1.01%	B
Envoy Air	504	81.8%	49 min	0.20%	B+
Delta Air Lines	495	88.4%	79 min	0.61%	A+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	336	82.3%	99 min	0.60%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	297	71.1%	101 min	1.68%	C
Republic Airwaysthin sample	285	85.6%	75 min	2.81%	A
Southwest Airlinesthin sample	269	75.6%	63 min	0.74%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	211	68.8%	96 min	2.84%	C
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	94	67.7%	167 min	1.06%	C

The spread between Delta and American is 20 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 20 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of CLT in August

Routes from CLT in August 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLT to ATL · Atlanta	405	83.5%	75 min	0.99%	B+
CLT to MCO · Orlando	398	57.0%	93 min	0.50%	D+
CLT to LGA · New York	395	73.4%	77 min	2.03%	C
CLT to BOS · Bostonthin sample	354	76.4%	50 min	0.28%	B+
CLT to ORD · Chicagothin sample	331	71.9%	77 min	3.02%	C−
CLT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	325	69.8%	72 min	2.46%	C
CLT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	313	79.2%	79 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	306	67.0%	92 min	1.96%	C
CLT to MIA · Miamithin sample	291	64.2%	82 min	1.03%	D
CLT to TPA · Tampathin sample	289	64.6%	52 min	0.69%	D+
CLT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	284	76.2%	80 min	0.70%	B+
CLT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	280	79.5%	57 min	0.71%	B+
CLT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	270	70.9%	74 min	0.74%	C+
CLT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	264	73.2%	55 min	1.14%	C
CLT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	243	70.1%	56 min	0.41%	C+
CLT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	242	69.2%	99 min	0.41%	C+
CLT to DEN · Denverthin sample	237	61.4%	55 min	0.42%	D+
CLT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	227	73.7%	53 min	0.44%	C+
CLT to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	222	73.8%	77 min	0.45%	C+
CLT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	214	78.7%	56 min	0.93%	B+
CLT to CHS · Charlestonthin sample	209	74.0%	79 min	1.91%	C
CLT to RIC · Richmondthin sample	207	70.7%	53 min	0.97%	C+
CLT to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	197	79.6%	53 min	0.51%	B+
CLT to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample	195	71.1%	78 min	0.51%	C+
CLT to SAV · Savannahthin sample	190	73.4%	73 min	0.53%	C+

Delay causes

What held CLT up in August

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 298,000 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
49%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
17%
Extreme weather
5%
Security
0%

49% 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 298,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 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 297,818 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 0.91% against a national 1.08%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.31%.

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 8.2% 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.

What to do with this

Flying from CLT in August

For a August trip through CLT: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 87.4% on time, and with 10.3% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.

Charlotte Douglas International (CLT), the whole year
CLT in July65.7%
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 April78.8%
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