Airport month record
CLTJAN
Charlotte Douglas International in January 2026
- Departures
- 14,222
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at CLT, see live FAA status.
CLT in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 11.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 14,222 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 411 at 90.4% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 90.4% on time across 411 flights.
Key figures
On time
80.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 12,626 completed departures
Avg delay
73 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
10.98%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
76.7%
CLT across all twelve months
These figures cover 14,222 departures from Charlotte Douglas International in January 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
January next to CLT's other months
Against CLT's own year, January ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.7%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 10.98% of scheduled departures were called off, 5.5 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 73.3% on time and February 78.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am688 flights88.5%
- 8am–11am2,856 flights86.0%
- 11am–2pm2,236 flights82.4%
- 2pm–5pm2,725 flights77.1%
- 5pm–8pm2,867 flights77.1%
- 8pm–5am2,850 flights79.0%
Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.5% of the time, against 77.1% for the evening window. That is 11 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,867 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 70.4%. 16 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at CLT in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.4% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 79.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,084 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 8,920 | 80.4% | 71 min | 11.20% | B− |
| PSA Airlines | 3,084 | 79.2% | 69 min | 11.35% | B− |
| Envoy Air | 476 | 85.2% | 58 min | 11.76% | A− |
| Delta Air Lines | 411 | 90.4% | 97 min | 6.08% | A− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 324 | 87.4% | 76 min | 9.57% | A− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 241 | 74.2% | 57 min | 11.62% | C− |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 238 | 90.7% | 56 min | 8.82% | A− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 225 | 72.6% | 105 min | 10.67% | C− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 173 | 82.6% | 80 min | 6.94% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 130 | 73.0% | 161 min | 11.54% | C− |
Envoy Air cancels 11.8% 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
Busiest routes out of CLT in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLT to MCO · Orlando | 410 | 75.5% | 81 min | 10.00% | B− |
| CLT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 354 | 84.3% | 75 min | 8.47% | B− |
| CLT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 340 | 84.5% | 70 min | 10.59% | B− |
| CLT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 336 | 82.4% | 69 min | 10.42% | B− |
| CLT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 331 | 71.1% | 74 min | 10.88% | C− |
| CLT to MIA · Miamithin sample | 331 | 77.6% | 105 min | 7.85% | B− |
| CLT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 301 | 75.8% | 82 min | 10.63% | B− |
| CLT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 296 | 80.2% | 103 min | 11.15% | B− |
| CLT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 294 | 84.5% | 81 min | 9.52% | B− |
| CLT to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 290 | 82.9% | 79 min | 11.03% | B− |
| CLT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 276 | 83.3% | 62 min | 11.23% | B− |
| CLT to TPA · Tampathin sample | 263 | 79.6% | 63 min | 10.65% | B− |
| CLT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 260 | 85.5% | 71 min | 10.00% | A− |
| CLT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 232 | 87.9% | 47 min | 7.76% | A− |
| CLT to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 223 | 80.1% | 59 min | 12.11% | B− |
| CLT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 216 | 83.3% | 53 min | 8.33% | B− |
| CLT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 216 | 70.7% | 62 min | 11.57% | C− |
| CLT to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample | 212 | 85.6% | 78 min | 11.79% | A− |
| CLT to RIC · Richmondthin sample | 209 | 80.3% | 69 min | 12.44% | B− |
| CLT to CHS · Charlestonthin sample | 206 | 83.7% | 74 min | 10.68% | B− |
| CLT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 202 | 86.9% | 72 min | 9.41% | A− |
| CLT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 197 | 86.4% | 72 min | 10.15% | A− |
| CLT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 191 | 87.4% | 90 min | 7.85% | A− |
| CLT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 191 | 87.2% | 112 min | 9.95% | A− |
| CLT to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 186 | 82.1% | 67 min | 9.14% | B− |
Delay causes
What held CLT up in January
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 177,000 reported delay minutes.
- 38%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 19%Extreme weather
- 12%National Airspace System
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 19% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 2.0 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 176,748 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 10.98%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in nine 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.
7.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from CLT in January
For a January trip through CLT: expect 80.7% on time and 10.98% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 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.