West Palm Beach/Palm Beach to Washington

What the Data Says About PBI to DCA

The West Palm Beach/Palm Beach to Washington corridor (PBI → DCA) covers roughly 857 miles and is served by 16 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 8,447 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 75.3% on-time rate with an average delay of 88.5 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 3,408 flights were recorded on this pairing — 51 cancelled (1.5%) and 23 diverted (0.7%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 16 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 8,447 total flights analyzed, the 75.3% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 88.5-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 89% on-time, while Jun 2025 came in at 60% on-time — a 29-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the PBI to DCA route, the combination of a 75.3% on-time rate, 88.5-minute average delay, 1.5% recent cancellation rate, and 16 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.