Airport month record
RDUJAN
Raleigh-Durham International in January 2026
- Departures
- 4,163
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at RDU, see live FAA status.
RDU in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 8.2% 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 4,163 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 677 at 88.4% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 88.4% on time across 677 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,814 completed departures
Avg delay
76 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
8.17%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
79.0%
RDU across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,163 departures from Raleigh-Durham 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 RDU's other months
Against RDU's own year, January ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.0%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 8.17% of scheduled departures were called off, 3.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 73.5% on time and February 82.1%, 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 | 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 | 4,803 | 73.5% | 76 min | 1.71% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,005 flights89.1%
- 8am–11am679 flights86.2%
- 11am–2pm766 flights80.3%
- 2pm–5pm596 flights80.0%
- 5pm–8pm949 flights71.9%
- 8pm–5am168 flights69.9%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.1% of the time, against 69.9% for the overnight window. That is 19 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,005 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 85.8% on time and Monday the weakest at 71.8%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at RDU in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time; Republic Airways manages 76.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 647 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 889 | 84.7% | 77 min | 5.74% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 677 | 88.4% | 44 min | 7.98% | A− |
| Republic Airways | 647 | 76.0% | 62 min | 10.66% | B− |
| American Airlines | 606 | 79.9% | 108 min | 10.23% | B− |
| United Airlines | 483 | 84.1% | 76 min | 5.59% | B− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 281 | 70.8% | 84 min | 6.05% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 203 | 78.1% | 67 min | 12.32% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 169 | 74.7% | 81 min | 8.28% | C− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 128 | 75.7% | 106 min | 10.16% | B− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 42 | 59.5% | 56 min | 11.90% | D− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 36 | 76.5% | 49 min | 5.56% | B− |
Republic Airways cancels 10.7% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDU to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 356 | 91.6% | 69 min | 6.46% | A− |
| RDU to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 233 | 76.1% | 61 min | 7.30% | B− |
| RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 226 | 75.2% | 56 min | 7.08% | B− |
| RDU to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 223 | 76.6% | 108 min | 11.66% | B− |
| RDU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 218 | 77.0% | 64 min | 10.09% | B− |
| RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample | 200 | 76.0% | 97 min | 8.00% | B− |
| RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 194 | 75.0% | 107 min | 7.22% | B− |
| RDU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 186 | 83.0% | 64 min | 11.29% | B− |
| RDU to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 184 | 78.0% | 70 min | 10.33% | B− |
| RDU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 180 | 82.4% | 140 min | 11.11% | B− |
| RDU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 176 | 68.4% | 69 min | 11.93% | C− |
| RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 171 | 82.6% | 71 min | 9.36% | B− |
| RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 155 | 86.8% | 60 min | 7.10% | A− |
| RDU to DEN · Denverthin sample | 138 | 86.9% | 61 min | 5.80% | A− |
| RDU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 132 | 88.5% | 44 min | 7.58% | A− |
| RDU to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 116 | 71.4% | 66 min | 9.48% | C− |
| RDU to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 103 | 86.6% | 94 min | 5.83% | A− |
| RDU to TPA · Tampathin sample | 100 | 80.9% | 77 min | 6.00% | B− |
| RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 93 | 84.1% | 117 min | 5.38% | B− |
| RDU to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 74 | 76.5% | 118 min | 8.11% | B− |
| RDU to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 73 | 89.9% | 87 min | 5.48% | A− |
| RDU to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 67 | 76.2% | 55 min | 4.48% | B− |
| RDU to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 67 | 90.2% | 41 min | 8.96% | A− |
| RDU to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 62 | 82.5% | 59 min | 8.06% | B− |
| RDU to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 62 | 89.7% | 37 min | 6.45% | A− |
Delay causes
What held RDU up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 55,000 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.
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
44% 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 55,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 16 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 55,278 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 8.17%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in twelve 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.
7.4% 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 RDU in January
For a January trip through RDU: expect 81.0% on time and 8.17% cancelled, going by January 2026. 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 August78.7%
- RDU in September84.6%
- RDU in October79.0%
- RDU in November80.4%
- RDU in December73.5%
- 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.