PlainFlights

Airport · IAD · Washington, Virginia

Washington, DC

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Washington, DC (IAD) ranks #35 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Washington, DC posts above-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a high-volume U.S. airport.

Data updated 2026-06-13

84.1%
On-time
Top 43%
on-time, US airports
81 min
Delay when late
1.05%
Cancelled
#35 of 382
Corpus placement
View watchlist

Get IAD on-time updates (RSS)

Tools for IAD

Compare IAD to another hub, filter routes, or browse airline stats without leaving this profile.

Airport lookup

Compare airports

Route finder

Airline & season filters

IAD on-time rate vs. the national average

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

0%100%U.S. average79%84.1%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Carrier. Total delay minutes: 3,982,149.

Late Aircraft 30.2% (1,200,876 min)
Carrier 37.9% (1,509,264 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 22.4% (890,400 min)
Weather 9.5% (378,850 min)
Security 0.1% (2,759 min)

IAD - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: November (94.3%) · worst: July (87.9%)

86%88%90%92%94%96% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 90.9%

IAD - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

90%92%94%96%98% 202020212022202320242025 95.9% 91.2% ▼ -4.9%

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

Average taxi-out 21.2 min · taxi-in 7.4 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

16 min18 min20 min22 min24 min26 min Jan 24Dec 25 22.5 min 22.3 min ▼ -0.9%

IAD's average taxi-out (21.2 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is May 2025 at 25.0 min; the lightest is March 2024 at 18.5 min.

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Washington, DC.

Cancellation Rate

1.05%

6,473 of 618,145 flights

Diversion Rate

0.11%

677 of 618,145 flights

Delay Rate

15.9%

98,139 of 618,145 flights

Top Routes from IAD

Busiest routes to and from Washington, DC.

Filter routes

Route Flights On-Time Distance
IAD (Washington) → ATL (Atlanta) 20,387 84.2% 534 mi
ATL (Atlanta) → IAD (Washington) 20,375 84% 534 mi
DEN (Denver) → IAD (Washington) 17,394 79.1% 1,452 mi
IAD (Washington) → DEN (Denver) 17,372 83.1% 1,452 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → IAD (Washington) 13,324 83.6% 322 mi
IAD (Washington) → CLT (Charlotte) 13,287 83.5% 322 mi
IAD (Washington) → SFO (San Francisco) 13,283 81.5% 2,419 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → IAD (Washington) 13,278 82.9% 2,419 mi
LAX (Los Angeles) → IAD (Washington) 12,545 86.6% 2,288 mi
IAD (Washington) → LAX (Los Angeles) 12,535 82.9% 2,288 mi
IAD (Washington) → ORD (Chicago) 10,163 82.2% 588 mi
ORD (Chicago) → IAD (Washington) 10,108 81.7% 588 mi
SEA (Seattle) → IAD (Washington) 10,099 83.2% 2,306 mi
IAD (Washington) → SEA (Seattle) 10,097 82% 2,306 mi
IAH (Houston) → IAD (Washington) 10,004 81.2% 1,190 mi
IAD (Washington) → IAH (Houston) 10,000 82% 1,190 mi
DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) → IAD (Washington) 9,425 79.5% 1,172 mi
IAD (Washington) → DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) 9,421 79.8% 1,172 mi
DTW (Detroit) → IAD (Washington) 9,240 82.9% 383 mi
IAD (Washington) → DTW (Detroit) 9,219 84.9% 383 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: 84.1%).

Eugene, OR

Eugene, OR

84.1% on-time 90,806 flights

Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI

Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI

84.1% on-time 20,046 flights

Meridian, MS

Meridian, MS

84.1% on-time 7,934 flights

Augusta, GA

Augusta, GA

84% on-time 41,579 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 618,145).

Houston, TX

Houston, TX

618,821 flights 79.4% on-time

Raleigh/Durham, NC

Raleigh/Durham, NC

616,332 flights 81.6% on-time

Honolulu, HI

Honolulu, HI

631,778 flights 84.6% on-time

Sacramento, CA

Sacramento, CA

592,833 flights 82.7% on-time

Other Airports in Virginia

Compare performance with other Virginia airports.

DCA 80.8%

Washington, DC

Washington · 1,425,060 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

IAD delay-share reading

The standout signal at Washington, DC is traffic scale: 618,145 BTS flights (2020–2025) place it #35 of 382 by book size. That busy-book footprint sits beside a 84.1% on-time rate (5.1 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average), 98,139 delayed departures, and 6,473 cancellations (1.05% of the book).

Delay minutes concentrate in Carrier (30.2% late-aircraft, 37.9% carrier, 22.4% NAS, 9.5% weather, 0.1% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.

On the multi-year calendar, IAD is strongest in November (94.3% on-time) and weakest in July (87.9%), a 6.4-point swing. Volume peaks in August (~9,390 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to ATL (Atlanta) at 84.2% 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 IAD's data

IAD's on-time book is mid-pack; month and delay-cause mix move more than the headline rate.

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.