ATL to RDU flight delays
Atlanta, GA (ATL) Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU) · 356 miles
392 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
82.26%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.77%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
80 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
15 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
The shape of the lateness matters here. Flights on this route are not late often, but when they are late they are late by about 80 minutes — long enough to lose a connection or an evening. The on-time percentage looks reassuring and understates the consequence of being on the wrong flight.
The two directions do not behave alike. RDU to ATL arrives on time 7.7 points more often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
Only Delta Air Lines flies this route in the published record, so there is no choice to weigh — the route's figures and the airline's are the same figures.
This is a thin route — 392 flights across the whole period. On a route this infrequent a cancellation is far more costly than the rate suggests, because the next departure may not be the same day.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Delta Air Lines arrived on time most often on ATL to RDU.
Every airline on ATL to RDU
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 332 | 86.36% | 0.6% | 76 min | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 60 | 59.32% | 1.67% | 87 min | — |
The return leg
RDU to ATL Raleigh/Durham back to Atlanta 89.97% on time AOther routes from Atlanta
Common questions
Are flights from Atlanta to Raleigh/Durham usually delayed?
82.26% of flights on the ATL to RDU route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
Which airlines fly from Atlanta to Raleigh/Durham?
Only Delta Air Lines appears in the published record on this route, with 332 flights and 86.36% arriving on time.
How often are ATL to RDU flights cancelled?
0.77% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 8 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When ATL to RDU flights are late, how late are they?
About 80 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on ATL to RDU during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →