Airport month record
RDUAUG
Raleigh-Durham International in August 2025
- Departures
- 4,640
- 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 RDU, see live FAA status.
RDU in August lands a B, about a point better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,640 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,044 at 85.6% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 85.6% on time across 1,044 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,566 completed departures
Avg delay
82 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.34%
Nationally in August: 1.08%
Whole year
79.0%
RDU across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,640 departures from Raleigh-Durham 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 RDU's other months
Against RDU's own year, August ran level with the twelve-month rate of 79.0%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for RDU in August, at 1.34% against 2.28% across the year. Either side of it, July ran 71.6% on time and September 84.6%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,907 | 71.6% | 97 min | 3.81% | C− |
| August 2025 (this page) | 4,640 | 78.7% | 82 min | 1.34% | B |
| September 2025 | 4,484 | 84.6% | 81 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 4,929 | 79.0% | 67 min | 0.63% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 4,796 | 80.4% | 80 min | 2.04% | B |
| December 2025 | 4,803 | 73.5% | 76 min | 1.71% | C |
| January 2026 | 4,163 | 81.0% | 76 min | 8.17% | B− |
| February 2026 | 3,954 | 82.1% | 76 min | 3.69% | B− |
| March 2026 | 4,658 | 77.2% | 83 min | 2.81% | B |
| April 2026 | 4,748 | 82.4% | 70 min | 0.63% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 4,884 | 81.4% | 67 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 4,615 | 77.2% | 84 min | 2.08% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave RDU in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,120 flights91.7%
- 8am–11am726 flights89.5%
- 11am–2pm811 flights79.9%
- 2pm–5pm744 flights72.6%
- 5pm–8pm948 flights63.1%
- 8pm–5am291 flights64.7%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 63.1% on time, against 91.7% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,120 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 85.0% on time and Friday the weakest at 76.2%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at RDU in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 85.6% of the time; American Airlines manages 74.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 895 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,044 | 85.6% | 82 min | 1.25% | A |
| American Airlines | 895 | 74.3% | 106 min | 1.79% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 716 | 82.9% | 57 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| Republic Airways | 638 | 76.8% | 63 min | 1.57% | B |
| United Airlines | 519 | 78.1% | 88 min | 0.19% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 355 | 73.0% | 88 min | 2.25% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 222 | 79.7% | 89 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 99 | 65.3% | 62 min | 4.04% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 84 | 72.6% | 85 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 57 | 64.8% | 41 min | 5.26% | D− |
Delta leads American by 11 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of RDU in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDU to ATL · Atlanta | 402 | 88.9% | 98 min | 0.75% | A+ |
| RDU to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 273 | 75.6% | 101 min | 2.93% | B |
| RDU to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 264 | 83.5% | 115 min | 1.14% | B |
| RDU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 245 | 76.2% | 69 min | 2.45% | B |
| RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 230 | 85.5% | 77 min | 0.87% | A+ |
| RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 212 | 72.8% | 78 min | 1.42% | C |
| RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 201 | 61.9% | 96 min | 1.99% | D |
| RDU to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 201 | 77.5% | 63 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample | 196 | 69.2% | 104 min | 0.51% | C+ |
| RDU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 190 | 65.7% | 83 min | 4.21% | C− |
| RDU to DEN · Denverthin sample | 163 | 71.1% | 67 min | 1.23% | C |
| RDU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 163 | 63.3% | 88 min | 3.07% | D− |
| RDU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 161 | 88.2% | 51 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| RDU to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 151 | 84.0% | 54 min | 0.66% | B+ |
| RDU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 150 | 87.8% | 57 min | 1.33% | A |
| RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 144 | 65.3% | 98 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| RDU to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 115 | 87.8% | 53 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 108 | 84.3% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to TPA · Tampathin sample | 101 | 76.8% | 86 min | 1.98% | B |
| RDU to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 94 | 81.5% | 52 min | 2.13% | B |
| RDU to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 93 | 83.5% | 76 min | 2.15% | B |
| RDU to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 88 | 76.5% | 42 min | 3.41% | B− |
| RDU to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 81 | 85.2% | 79 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| RDU to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 68 | 83.8% | 53 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 68 | 92.6% | 84 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held RDU up in August
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 45% of the 80,000 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.
- 45%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%Carrier
- 24%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
45% 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 80,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 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 79,521 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.34% against a national 1.08%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.26%.
8.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 RDU in August
For a August trip through RDU: expect 78.7% on time and 1.34% cancelled, going by August 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Raleigh-Durham International (RDU), the whole year
- RDU in July71.6%
- RDU in September84.6%
- RDU in October79.0%
- RDU in November80.4%
- RDU in December73.5%
- RDU in January81.0%
- RDU in February82.1%
- RDU in March77.2%
- RDU in April82.4%
- RDU in May81.4%
- RDU in June77.2%
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.