Airport month record

CLTSEP

Charlotte Douglas International in September 2025

Departures: 15,192
Month: September 2025
National, same month: 83.4%
Carriers: 10

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

CLT in September earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it level with the national rate of 83.4%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 15,192 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 471 at 92.3% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 92.3% on time across 471 flights.

On time

84.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 15,105 completed departures

Avg delay

67 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.37%

Nationally in September: 0.51%

Whole year

76.7%

CLT across all twelve months

These figures cover 15,192 departures from Charlotte Douglas International in September 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

September next to CLT's other months

Against CLT's own year, September ran 7 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.7%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations were unusually low for CLT in September, at 0.37% against 2.01% across the year. Either side of it, August ran 72.8% on time and October 81.2%, 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 (this page)	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 September

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–8am798 flights94.7%
8am–11am2,900 flights92.1%
11am–2pm2,694 flights88.6%
2pm–5pm2,991 flights80.1%
5pm–8pm2,849 flights77.6%
8pm–5am2,960 flights79.1%

Scale runs 70% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.7% of the time, against 77.6% 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 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 2,991 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 90.4% on time and Thursday the weakest at 79.2%. 11 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLT in September

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 92.3% of the time; American Airlines manages 82.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,228 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLT in September 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlines	9,228	82.3%	65 min	0.34%	B+
PSA Airlines	3,567	86.6%	65 min	0.28%	A+
Envoy Air	496	89.9%	67 min	0.00%	A+
Delta Air Lines	471	92.3%	50 min	0.00%	A+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	304	79.9%	63 min	1.64%	B
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	288	84.2%	65 min	2.43%	B
United Airlinesthin sample	280	88.1%	94 min	0.71%	A+
Southwest Airlinesthin sample	256	87.0%	50 min	0.00%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	212	77.4%	113 min	0.00%	B+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	90	88.8%	283 min	1.11%	A

Delta 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 September

Routes from CLT in September 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLT to LGA · New York	386	82.1%	74 min	0.78%	B+
CLT to ATL · Atlanta	369	89.4%	52 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to ORD · Chicagothin sample	337	80.8%	66 min	0.59%	B+
CLT to MCO · Orlandothin sample	336	77.5%	50 min	0.60%	B+
CLT to BOS · Bostonthin sample	318	60.1%	64 min	1.57%	D
CLT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	317	84.8%	63 min	1.89%	B
CLT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	291	81.4%	83 min	0.34%	B+
CLT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	283	89.0%	54 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	279	82.9%	82 min	1.43%	B
CLT to MIA · Miamithin sample	277	82.7%	79 min	0.72%	B+
CLT to TPA · Tampathin sample	264	84.8%	60 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	252	84.9%	95 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	251	88.4%	63 min	0.40%	A+
CLT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	245	83.7%	49 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	240	71.6%	61 min	0.83%	C+
CLT to DEN · Denverthin sample	231	83.5%	53 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	227	86.3%	53 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to SAV · Savannahthin sample	225	81.2%	69 min	0.44%	B+
CLT to ILM · Wilmingtonthin sample	220	84.1%	59 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	218	86.4%	102 min	0.46%	A+
CLT to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	214	80.8%	92 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample	213	81.7%	65 min	0.00%	B+
CLT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	205	86.8%	40 min	0.00%	A+
CLT to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	205	80.3%	65 min	0.98%	B+
CLT to CHS · Charlestonthin sample	196	79.6%	60 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held CLT up in September

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 161,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
39%
Carrier
34%
National Airspace System
17%
Extreme weather
9%
Security
0%

39% 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 161,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 4 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 160,994 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.37%, below the national 0.51% 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.

5.7% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 5.4%. 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 September

For a September trip through CLT: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.0% on time with 0.37% 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 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