Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) delays & on-time performance
Washington, Virginia · 104 nonstop destinations · 11 airlines · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
No FAA-reported ground stops or delays at DCA right now. Individual flights can still be delayed by the airline; check with your airline for your flight.
On-time arrivals
73%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
3.6%
5,061 flights
Avg arrival delay
22 min
76 min when late
Departed on time
73%
avg taxi-out 22 min
Figures cover 142,173 departures from DCA; on-time is measured at arrival. Arrivals into DCA were on time 72% of the time.
Key facts
- Flights departing Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) arrived on time 73% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, worse than the 78% national average.
- 3.6% were cancelled, and 11% arrived an hour or more late.
- Delta Air Lines was the most punctual airline here (79% on time); PSA Airlines was the least (67%).
- Departures scheduled around 6am did best (90% on time); around 5pm did worst (61%).
- The largest source of delay minutes was late-arriving aircraft (50%).
Most delayed routes from DCA
Lowest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- AUS · Austin54%364 flts
- HPN · White Plains63%1,359 flts
- TLH · Tallahassee63%365 flts
- GRR · Grand Rapids64%730 flts
- ORF · Norfolk64%1,041 flts
- PHL · Philadelphia64%790 flts
- BUF · Buffalo64%1,134 flts
- DAY · Dayton65%961 flts
- GSP · Greer66%1,018 flts
- OKC · Oklahoma City66%691 flts
Most reliable routes from DCA
Highest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- PHX · Phoenix83%1,086 flts
- EYW · Key West81%590 flts
- IAH · Houston81%3,277 flts
- SRQ · Sarasota/Bradenton80%465 flts
- DEN · Denver79%1,346 flts
- CLT · Charlotte79%2,673 flts
- DFW · Dallas/Fort Worth78%3,301 flts
- ATL · Atlanta78%6,801 flts
- CMH · Columbus78%2,052 flts
- IND · Indianapolis77%2,023 flts
Best airline at DCA
Departures from this airport, ranked by on-time arrival.
| Airline | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Routes | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Airlines | 79% | 0.9% | 17 min | 1 | 982 |
| Delta Air Lines | 79% | 2.5% | 19 min | 10 | 9,539 |
| United Airlines | 79% | 1.6% | 18 min | 5 | 6,887 |
| Envoy Air | 78% | 3.0% | 17 min | 48 | 4,800 |
| Republic Airways | 76% | 4.1% | 17 min | 74 | 27,178 |
| American Airlines | 75% | 2.5% | 22 min | 53 | 27,795 |
| Southwest Airlines | 74% | 1.9% | 17 min | 18 | 16,026 |
| Alaska Airlines | 73% | 1.1% | 17 min | 5 | 2,182 |
| JetBlue | 69% | 3.4% | 26 min | 8 | 6,699 |
| PSA Airlines | 67% | 5.5% | 27 min | 69 | 39,989 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 63% | 7.3% | 33 min | 1 | 96 |
Best time to fly out of DCA
On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour (local time).
- 6am90%11,098 flts
- 7am87%7,370 flts
- 8am81%13,686 flts
- 9am79%5,937 flts
- 10am82%9,980 flts
- 11am79%8,482 flts
- 12pm76%7,298 flts
- 1pm71%9,381 flts
- 2pm68%8,791 flts
- 3pm65%9,293 flts
- 4pm63%6,833 flts
- 5pm61%11,670 flts
- 6pm61%6,549 flts
- 7pm64%8,905 flts
- 8pm65%7,119 flts
- 9pm68%1,871 flts
- 10pm62%6,851 flts
Monthly trend
Why departures were late
- Late-arriving aircraft50%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)25%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion20%
- Extreme weather5%
- Security0%
Data: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 (12 months). Latest month published by BTS: July 2026. How we calculate this.