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Airport · DCA · Washington, Virginia

Washington, DC

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Washington, DC (DCA) ranks #15 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Washington, DC posts bottom-quartile on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as one of the busiest U.S. airports.

Data updated 2026-06-13

80.8%
On-time
Top 79%
on-time, US airports
80 min
Delay when late
1.52%
Cancelled
#15 of 382
Corpus placement
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DCA on-time rate vs. the national average

Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.

0%100%U.S. average79%80.8%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 10,144,484.

Late Aircraft 46.4% (4,712,038 min)
Carrier 28.7% (2,915,498 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 19.7% (1,996,009 min)
Weather 5.0% (505,508 min)
Security 0.2% (15,431 min)

DCA - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: October (92.7%) · worst: July (87.5%)

86%88%90%92%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 89.4%

DCA - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

85%90%95%100% 202020212022202320242025 95.7% 87.7% ▼ -8.4%

DCA - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)

Average taxi-out 21.5 min · taxi-in 7.5 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

19 min20 min21 min22 min23 min24 min Jan 24Dec 25 21.9 min 22.3 min ▲ +1.8%

DCA's average taxi-out (21.5 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is June 2025 at 23.0 min; the lightest is October 2024 at 20.0 min.

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Washington, DC.

Cancellation Rate

1.52%

21,697 of 1,425,060 flights

Diversion Rate

0.12%

1,652 of 1,425,060 flights

Delay Rate

19.2%

274,313 of 1,425,060 flights

Top Routes from DCA

Busiest routes to and from Washington, DC.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
BOS (Boston) → DCA (Washington) 49,205 81.6% 399 mi
DCA (Washington) → BOS (Boston) 49,133 80.5% 399 mi
ATL (Atlanta) → DCA (Washington) 35,757 79.9% 547 mi
DCA (Washington) → ATL (Atlanta) 35,728 83.9% 547 mi
ORD (Chicago) → DCA (Washington) 33,643 79% 612 mi
DCA (Washington) → ORD (Chicago) 33,634 83.8% 612 mi
DCA (Washington) → LGA (New York) 28,869 80% 214 mi
LGA (New York) → DCA (Washington) 28,793 82.8% 214 mi
DCA (Washington) → MCO (Orlando) 22,407 78.9% 759 mi
MCO (Orlando) → DCA (Washington) 22,358 74.8% 759 mi
DCA (Washington) → BNA (Nashville) 19,093 82.3% 562 mi
BNA (Nashville) → DCA (Washington) 19,060 81.7% 562 mi
MIA (Miami) → DCA (Washington) 18,953 77.5% 919 mi
DCA (Washington) → MIA (Miami) 18,948 79.4% 919 mi
DCA (Washington) → DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) 17,803 82% 1,192 mi
DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) → DCA (Washington) 17,801 78.6% 1,192 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → DCA (Washington) 17,255 76.9% 331 mi
DCA (Washington) → CLT (Charlotte) 17,252 82.2% 331 mi
DCA (Washington) → DTW (Detroit) 14,880 84.9% 405 mi
DTW (Detroit) → DCA (Washington) 14,879 82.7% 405 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Washington, DC, both outside Virginia so the neighborhoods are not same-state geography. Axes stay disjoint: volume peers exclude the on-time peer set. Same-state compare stays below.

Similar on-time rate

Nearest out-of-state BTS on-time rate (this airport: 80.8%).

Nashville, TN

Nashville, TN

80.8% on-time 1,046,597 flights

San Diego, CA

San Diego, CA

80.8% on-time 973,807 flights

Hancock/Houghton, MI

Hancock/Houghton, MI

80.8% on-time 8,698 flights

Toledo, OH

Toledo, OH

80.8% on-time 7,268 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 1,425,060).

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis, MN

1,406,487 flights 85.4% on-time

Houston, TX

Houston, TX

1,404,392 flights 81.6% on-time

Boston, MA

Boston, MA

1,455,478 flights 79.9% on-time

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA

1,466,784 flights 81% on-time

Other Airports in Virginia

Compare performance with other Virginia airports.

IAD 84.1%

Washington, DC

Washington · 618,145 flights
ORF 81.6%

Norfolk, VA

Norfolk · 231,501 flights
RIC 81.6%

Richmond, VA

Richmond · 203,348 flights
CHO 85.5%

Charlottesville, VA

Charlottesville · 31,578 flights
ROA 83.2%

Roanoke, VA

Roanoke · 25,454 flights
PHF 88.1%

Newport News/Williamsburg, VA

Newport News/Williamsburg · 4,730 flights
SHD 84.7%

Staunton, VA

Staunton · 4,017 flights
LYH 86.5%

Lynchburg, VA

Lynchburg · 2,116 flights

DCA delay-share reading

The standout signal at Washington, DC is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 46.4% of 10,144,484 delay minutes across 1,425,060 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 80.8% (1.8 pts above the 79% national average), with 274,313 delayed and 21,697 cancelled (1.52%).

Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (46.4% late-aircraft, 28.7% carrier, 19.7% NAS, 5.0% weather, 0.2% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.

On the multi-year calendar, DCA is strongest in October (92.7% on-time) and weakest in July (87.5%), a 5.2-point swing. Volume peaks in March (~21,453 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to BOS (Boston) at 81.6% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.

Statewide aggregates for Virginia: Virginia flight data.

Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025). Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods. On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Using DCA's data

DCA's on-time book sits in the slower half of the BTS set; check the delay mix and the worst month before treating the headline as typical.

On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) On-Time Performance data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFlights

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Airline on-time performance and operational reliability · 2025

Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. Airport figures are computed directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.