Raleigh-Durham International in December 2025

73.4%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In December 2025, reporting carriers scheduled 4,803 domestic departures from Raleigh-Durham International (RDU). 73.4% left less than 15 minutes late and 72.1% reached their destination on time; 1.7% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 72.0% of flights departed on time and 71.9% arrived on time, so RDU departures were 1.4 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2024, the airport had 5,010 departures with 80.5% leaving on time: a change of −7.1 points, with flights down 4%.

Flights arriving at RDU that month were on time 71.0% of the time (4,801 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 25% and national aviation system 24%.

On time 72.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 26.1%
Cancelled 1.7%
Diverted 0.1%

Every scheduled departure from RDU in December 2025, judged by arrival at the destination.

December 2025 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	RDU, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2025
Departed on time	73.4%	80.5%	77.5%	72.0%
Arrived on time	72.1%	80.1%	77.1%	71.9%
Cancelled	1.7%	0.4%	2.3%	1.5%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	20.7 min	13.1 min	17.6 min	21.2 min
Scheduled departures a day	160	167	152	19,410
Scheduled departures	4,803	5,010	55,461	582,304

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DL Delta Air Lines	998	21%	75.8%	9.8 min	2.1%
WN Southwest Airlines	846	18%	79.4%	3.6 min	0.6%
AA American Airlines	748	16%	78.2%	8.8 min	0.3%
YX Republic Airline	689	14%	65.5%	20.8 min	2.0%
UA United Airlines	555	12%	75.5%	10.6 min	0.5%
F9 Frontier Airlines	365	8%	60.8%	32.7 min	4.1%
B6 JetBlue Airways	279	6%	62.4%	22.3 min	2.9%
MQ Envoy Air	117	2%	68.4%	11.1 min	1.7%
OH PSA Airlines	113	2%	56.6%	35.1 min	3.5%
NK Spirit Airlines	51	1%	49.0%	28.0 min	15.7%
AS Alaska Airlines	42	1%	40.5%	28.4 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
RDU–ATL	Raleigh/Durham to Atlanta	396	79.8%	7.3 min	2.3%
RDU–ORD	Raleigh/Durham to Chicago	290	71.0%	16.9 min	1.0%
RDU–CLT	Raleigh/Durham to Charlotte	261	75.1%	11.2 min	0.4%
RDU–BOS	Raleigh/Durham to Boston	249	75.1%	9.8 min	1.6%
RDU–LGA	Raleigh/Durham to New York	240	58.3%	30.0 min	5.8%
RDU–JFK	Raleigh/Durham to New York	233	66.1%	13.6 min	3.9%
RDU–MCO	Raleigh/Durham to Orlando	226	70.8%	15.5 min	1.8%
RDU–DFW	Raleigh/Durham to Dallas/Fort Worth	209	78.9%	7.7 min	0.0%
RDU–BNA	Raleigh/Durham to Nashville	201	71.1%	12.7 min	0.5%
RDU–PHL	Raleigh/Durham to Philadelphia	197	61.4%	23.8 min	3.6%
RDU–MIA	Raleigh/Durham to Miami	189	77.2%	14.9 min	0.5%
RDU–EWR	Raleigh/Durham to Newark	178	58.4%	26.6 min	5.1%

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), December 2025.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2025	Minutes
Air carrier	24.5%	33.3%	23,172
Late-arriving aircraft	49.0%	41.1%	46,262
National Aviation System	23.7%	19.1%	22,420
Extreme weather	2.8%	6.4%	2,635
Security	0.0%	0.2%	9

94,498 delay minutes on 1,252 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left RDU on time in December 2025?

73.4% of 4,803 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 72.1% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 72.0% and 71.9%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In December 2024, 80.5% of 5,010 departures left on time and 0.4% were cancelled, against 73.4% and 1.7% in December 2025.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for December 2025; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for RDU · methodology · corrections.