Airport month record

RDUOCT

Raleigh-Durham International in October 2025

Departures: 4,929
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 11

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

RDU in October lands a B+, level with the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,929 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,109 at 87.9% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 87.9% on time across 1,109 flights.

On time

79.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,890 completed departures

Avg delay

67 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.63%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

79.0%

RDU across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,929 departures from Raleigh-Durham International in October 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

October next to RDU's other months

Against RDU's own year, October ran level with the twelve-month rate of 79.0%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for RDU in October, at 0.63% against 2.28% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 84.6% on time and November 80.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.

RDU month by month
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 (this page)	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 19 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,164 flights91.5%
8am–11am781 flights89.3%
11am–2pm898 flights78.3%
2pm–5pm786 flights71.1%
5pm–8pm1,001 flights68.1%
8pm–5am299 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 91.5% 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 1,164 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 85.3% on time and Monday the weakest at 72.8%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at RDU in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 87.9% of the time; Republic Airways manages 69.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 582 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at RDU in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	1,109	87.9%	75 min	0.54%	A+
American Airlines	912	80.1%	78 min	0.55%	B+
Southwest Airlines	800	80.2%	42 min	0.00%	B+
Republic Airways	582	69.2%	66 min	1.55%	C
United Airlines	568	79.2%	68 min	0.35%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	359	77.2%	102 min	0.84%	B+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	256	78.0%	74 min	1.95%	B
PSA Airlinesthin sample	216	55.1%	54 min	0.00%	D+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	62	82.3%	49 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	34	81.8%	44 min	2.94%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	31	64.5%	40 min	0.00%	D+

The spread between Delta and Republic is 19 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 19 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of RDU in October

Routes from RDU in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
RDU to ATL · Atlanta	416	89.2%	70 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to ORD · Chicagothin sample	327	71.2%	67 min	0.31%	C+
RDU to BOS · Bostonthin sample	291	71.8%	80 min	2.41%	C
RDU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	269	61.2%	73 min	3.35%	D−
RDU to CLT · Charlottethin sample	260	85.0%	65 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	245	73.9%	92 min	0.82%	C+
RDU to MCO · Orlandothin sample	234	86.3%	62 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	214	79.1%	63 min	0.93%	B+
RDU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	195	78.8%	54 min	0.51%	B+
RDU to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	195	73.4%	78 min	1.54%	C
RDU to MIA · Miamithin sample	194	77.7%	59 min	0.52%	B+
RDU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	178	48.6%	51 min	0.56%	F+
RDU to EWR · Newarkthin sample	170	60.4%	70 min	0.59%	D+
RDU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	166	81.3%	51 min	0.00%	B+
RDU to DTW · Detroitthin sample	141	95.7%	53 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to DEN · Denverthin sample	136	84.6%	55 min	0.00%	B+
RDU to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	119	88.2%	46 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	116	94.8%	39 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to TPA · Tampathin sample	107	87.9%	33 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	90	93.3%	30 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to IAH · Houstonthin sample	83	84.1%	212 min	1.20%	B
RDU to MDW · Chicagothin sample	80	77.5%	28 min	0.00%	B+
RDU to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	80	88.8%	117 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	74	93.2%	73 min	0.00%	A+
RDU to SEA · Seattlethin sample	65	82.8%	49 min	1.54%	B

Delay causes

What held RDU up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 69,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
46%
National Airspace System
32%
Carrier
21%
Extreme weather
1%

46% 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 69,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 46 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 69,153 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.63%, below the national 0.53% 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.

6.9% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 RDU in October

For a October trip through RDU: expect 79.0% on time and 0.63% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Raleigh-Durham International (RDU), the whole year
RDU in July71.6%
RDU in August78.7%
RDU in September84.6%
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.

Key figures