Airport month record
RDUDEC
Raleigh-Durham International in December 2025
- Departures
- 4,803
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at RDU, see live FAA status.
RDU in December sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, level with the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 4,803 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 846 at 80.0% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 80.0% on time across 846 flights.
Key figures
On time
73.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,717 completed departures
Avg delay
76 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.71%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
79.0%
RDU across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,803 departures from Raleigh-Durham International in December 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
December next to RDU's other months
Against RDU's own year, December ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.0%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 80.4% on time and January 81.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,907 | 71.6% | 97 min | 3.81% | C− |
| August 2025 | 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 (this page) | 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 December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,173 flights83.9%
- 8am–11am745 flights83.7%
- 11am–2pm854 flights74.3%
- 2pm–5pm714 flights70.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,053 flights59.4%
- 8pm–5am264 flights57.7%
Scale runs 50% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 57.7% on time, against 83.9% 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 1,173 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 63.5%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at RDU in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 80.0% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 63.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 365 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 998 | 77.5% | 80 min | 2.10% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 846 | 80.0% | 44 min | 0.59% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 748 | 78.6% | 73 min | 0.27% | B+ |
| Republic Airways | 689 | 66.8% | 80 min | 2.03% | C |
| United Airlines | 555 | 75.9% | 75 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 365 | 63.4% | 108 min | 4.11% | D− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 279 | 64.2% | 77 min | 2.87% | D |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 117 | 69.6% | 57 min | 1.71% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 113 | 58.7% | 90 min | 3.54% | D− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 51 | 58.1% | 77 min | 15.69% | D− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 42 | 40.5% | 48 min | 0.00% | F+ |
Frontier Airlines cancels 4.1% 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 RDU in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDU to ATL · Atlanta | 396 | 81.7% | 95 min | 2.27% | B |
| RDU to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 290 | 71.8% | 83 min | 1.03% | C |
| RDU to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 261 | 75.4% | 66 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 249 | 76.3% | 82 min | 1.61% | B |
| RDU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 240 | 61.9% | 90 min | 5.83% | D− |
| RDU to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 233 | 68.8% | 62 min | 3.86% | C− |
| RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 226 | 72.1% | 76 min | 1.77% | C |
| RDU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 209 | 79.3% | 77 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 201 | 71.5% | 59 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 197 | 63.7% | 78 min | 3.55% | D− |
| RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample | 189 | 77.7% | 101 min | 0.53% | B+ |
| RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 178 | 61.5% | 85 min | 5.06% | D− |
| RDU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 161 | 85.5% | 51 min | 1.24% | A |
| RDU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 158 | 63.6% | 83 min | 2.53% | D |
| RDU to DEN · Denverthin sample | 147 | 69.9% | 71 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| RDU to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 132 | 67.7% | 82 min | 3.79% | C− |
| RDU to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 124 | 75.4% | 91 min | 1.61% | B |
| RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 120 | 78.3% | 56 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to TPA · Tampathin sample | 116 | 72.6% | 69 min | 2.59% | C |
| RDU to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 91 | 65.9% | 77 min | 3.30% | C− |
| RDU to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 89 | 82.0% | 43 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 88 | 80.7% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 77 | 81.8% | 50 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RDU to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 73 | 47.9% | 44 min | 1.37% | F |
| RDU to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 69 | 79.7% | 46 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held RDU up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 94,000 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.
- 49%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 24%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
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 94,000 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 94,498 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.71% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.08%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% 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 RDU in December
For a December trip through RDU: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 83.9% on time, and with 10.0% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Raleigh-Durham International (RDU), the whole year
- RDU in July71.6%
- RDU in August78.7%
- RDU in September84.6%
- RDU in October79.0%
- RDU in November80.4%
- 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.