Airport month record

CLTOCT

Charlotte Douglas International in October 2025

Departures: 16,273
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 10

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

CLT in October lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. 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 16,273 flights, of which Envoy Air flew 537 at 88.3% on time.

Envoy Air is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 88.3% on time across 537 flights.

On time

81.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 16,213 completed departures

Avg delay

65 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.23%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

76.7%

CLT across all twelve months

These figures cover 16,273 departures from Charlotte Douglas International in October 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

October next to CLT's other months

Against CLT's own year, October ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.7%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CLT in October, at 0.23% against 2.01% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 84.0% on time and November 81.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

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 (this page)	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,166 flights90.7%
8am–11am2,884 flights90.2%
11am–2pm2,983 flights85.1%
2pm–5pm3,096 flights78.4%
5pm–8pm2,878 flights74.1%
8pm–5am3,266 flights75.2%

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 90.7% of the time, against 74.1% for the evening window. That is 17 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 3,266 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 89.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 70.5%. 19 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLT in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Envoy Air arrives on time 88.3% of the time; American Airlines manages 78.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 10,209 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLT in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlines	10,209	78.8%	66 min	0.20%	B+
PSA Airlines	3,504	87.4%	51 min	0.00%	A+
Envoy Air	537	88.3%	54 min	0.00%	A+
Delta Air Lines	495	87.9%	60 min	0.00%	A+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	363	77.5%	82 min	1.65%	B
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	291	82.6%	49 min	1.03%	B
Southwest Airlinesthin sample	289	76.5%	43 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	253	81.5%	77 min	1.19%	B
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	240	71.4%	118 min	2.50%	C
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	92	80.4%	117 min	0.00%	B+

Envoy leads American by 10 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of CLT in October

Routes from CLT in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLT to LGA · New York	436	73.4%	86 min	2.29%	C
CLT to ATL · Atlanta	398	86.6%	59 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to MCO · Orlando	392	76.3%	74 min	0.77%	B+
CLT to BOS · Boston	370	68.0%	80 min	0.81%	C+
CLT to ORD · Chicagothin sample	346	76.2%	58 min	0.29%	B+
CLT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	325	78.7%	89 min	0.31%	B+
CLT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	324	72.7%	58 min	0.93%	C+
CLT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	321	84.7%	57 min	0.31%	B+
CLT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	306	79.7%	63 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to MIA · Miamithin sample	305	77.0%	74 min	0.33%	B+
CLT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	303	76.6%	48 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	288	79.8%	59 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	264	81.4%	46 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	260	81.9%	68 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to TPA · Tampathin sample	259	81.0%	44 min	0.39%	B+
CLT to DEN · Denverthin sample	250	81.9%	62 min	0.40%	B+
CLT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	248	61.4%	40 min	0.81%	D+
CLT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	246	88.5%	56 min	0.41%	A+
CLT to SAV · Savannahthin sample	235	82.6%	58 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample	232	80.1%	85 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to ILM · Wilmingtonthin sample	232	79.2%	64 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	229	81.2%	82 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to CHS · Charlestonthin sample	227	77.5%	68 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to RIC · Richmondthin sample	225	83.5%	66 min	0.44%	B+
CLT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	223	86.9%	46 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held CLT up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 47% of the 197,000 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
47%
Carrier
33%
National Airspace System
18%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

47% 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 197,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 37 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 196,979 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.23%, below the national 0.53% 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.

6.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 October

For a October trip through CLT: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.2% on time with 0.23% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Charlotte Douglas International (CLT), the whole year
CLT in July65.7%
CLT in August72.8%
CLT in September84.0%
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