Airport month record
RDUMAR
Raleigh-Durham International in March 2026
- Departures
- 4,658
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at RDU, see live FAA status.
RDU in March lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 75.7%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by an hour and a half on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,658 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 984 at 82.4% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 82.4% on time across 984 flights.
Key figures
On time
77.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,512 completed departures
Avg delay
83 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.81%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
79.0%
RDU across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,658 departures from Raleigh-Durham International in March 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
March next to RDU's other months
Against RDU's own year, March ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.0%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 82.1% on time and April 82.4%, 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,085 flights88.8%
- 8am–11am763 flights86.8%
- 11am–2pm832 flights78.6%
- 2pm–5pm625 flights68.6%
- 5pm–8pm1,098 flights66.0%
- 8pm–5am255 flights62.4%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 62.4% on time, against 88.8% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 1,098 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 80.2% on time and Friday the weakest at 72.0%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at RDU in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 82.4% of the time; Republic Airways manages 71.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 706 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 984 | 82.4% | 91 min | 3.15% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 763 | 78.6% | 58 min | 1.70% | B |
| Republic Airways | 706 | 71.5% | 78 min | 4.53% | C− |
| American Airlines | 686 | 82.2% | 87 min | 1.60% | B |
| United Airlines | 533 | 81.8% | 95 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 329 | 67.8% | 105 min | 4.56% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 245 | 80.5% | 76 min | 1.22% | B |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 165 | 67.7% | 83 min | 1.21% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 152 | 67.7% | 83 min | 11.84% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 56 | 30.2% | 90 min | 5.36% | F− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 39 | 61.5% | 53 min | 0.00% | D+ |
Republic Airways cancels 4.5% 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDU to ATL · Atlanta | 375 | 79.5% | 92 min | 3.73% | B− |
| RDU to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 316 | 69.1% | 109 min | 2.85% | C |
| RDU to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 273 | 85.9% | 90 min | 1.47% | A |
| RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 259 | 72.3% | 89 min | 3.47% | C− |
| RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 225 | 83.5% | 87 min | 3.11% | B− |
| RDU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 205 | 80.3% | 63 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample | 204 | 75.4% | 71 min | 4.41% | B− |
| RDU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 204 | 62.4% | 75 min | 11.27% | D− |
| RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 197 | 76.9% | 81 min | 5.58% | B− |
| RDU to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 197 | 75.9% | 76 min | 1.52% | B |
| RDU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 177 | 65.7% | 73 min | 6.21% | C− |
| RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 175 | 70.1% | 60 min | 0.57% | C+ |
| RDU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 163 | 76.9% | 70 min | 1.23% | B |
| RDU to DEN · Denverthin sample | 149 | 85.1% | 102 min | 0.67% | A+ |
| RDU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 149 | 79.3% | 52 min | 2.68% | B |
| RDU to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 134 | 68.2% | 104 min | 1.49% | C |
| RDU to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 122 | 86.0% | 107 min | 0.82% | A+ |
| RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 115 | 81.6% | 62 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| RDU to TPA · Tampathin sample | 110 | 80.2% | 39 min | 3.64% | B− |
| RDU to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 100 | 83.8% | 114 min | 1.00% | B |
| RDU to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 89 | 77.9% | 107 min | 3.37% | B− |
| RDU to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 89 | 88.8% | 57 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| RDU to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 70 | 67.6% | 54 min | 1.43% | C |
| RDU to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 66 | 66.7% | 52 min | 6.06% | C− |
| RDU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 62 | 82.0% | 183 min | 1.61% | B |
Delay causes
What held RDU up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 47% of the 85,000 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.
- 47%Late-arriving aircraft
- 26%National Airspace System
- 23%Carrier
- 2%Extreme weather
- 1%Security
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 85,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 21 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 85,171 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 2.81%, against 2.90% nationally. That is roughly one flight in 40 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.
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 9.5% 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 March
For a March trip through RDU: expect 77.2% on time and 2.81% cancelled, going by March 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 January81.0%
- RDU in February82.1%
- 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.