DEN to RDU flight delays
Denver, CO (DEN) Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU) · 1,436 miles
1,768 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
75.19%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.74%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
55 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
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Frontier Airlines arrived on time 21.5 points more often than Southwest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In January it ran 25.7 points more punctual than in July — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
Flights from Denver to Raleigh/Durham run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, Frontier Airlines arrived on time most often on DEN to RDU. Southwest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in January and worst in July.
Every airline on DEN 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 775 | 80.88% | 0.52% | 60 min | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 708 | 64.58% | 0.71% | 53 min | F |
| Frontier Airlines | 285 | 86.12% | 1.4% | 53 min | B |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
RDU to DEN Raleigh/Durham back to Denver 79.99% on time COther routes from Denver
Common questions
Are flights from Denver to Raleigh/Durham usually delayed?
75.19% of flights on the DEN to RDU route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Denver to Raleigh/Durham?
Frontier Airlines, at 86.12% on time across 285 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 64.58%.
How often are DEN to RDU flights cancelled?
0.74% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 7 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Denver to Raleigh/Durham?
January, when 86.9% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 61.2%.
When DEN to RDU flights are late, how late are they?
About 55 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 DEN to RDU during January 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 →