OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Atlanta to Washington

547 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on ATL–DCA arrive on time 67% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate67%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay60 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled3.2%of scheduled flights

based on 6,431 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

Too close to call — no single carrier is clearly more on-time here.

  • Republic Airways
    On-time73%
    Medianon time
    p9035 min
    Cancel2.8%
    Flights430
  • Southwest Airlines
    On-time72%
    Medianon time
    p9065 min
    Cancel1.7%
    Flights1,169
  • PSA Airlines
    On-time69%
    Medianon time
    p9080 min
    Cancel7.6%
    Flights1,002
  • Delta Air Lines
    On-time64%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel2.6%
    Flights3,830

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline31%
  • Weather5%
  • Air traffic (NAS)36%
  • Late aircraft29%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Air traffic (NAS).

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline23%
  • Weather60%
  • Air traffic (NAS)17%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 209 cancellations with a reported cause (BTS reports causes from June 2003).

Over time

On-time trend

By season

On-time rate by month

When to fly

Best time to fly ATL → DCA

All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-06 .. 2026-05).

Best time of day

Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 85% on time.

  • Mornings85% on time · p90 20 min · 4,901 flights
  • Middays80% on time · p90 30 min · 4,514 flights
  • Afternoons68% on time · p90 60 min · 3,832 flights
  • Overnights63% on time · p90 65 min · 3,301 flights
  • Evenings61% on time · p90 70 min · 4,069 flights

Best day of week

Saturdays are the most reliable day to fly this route — 79% on time.

  • Saturdays79% on time · p90 35 min · 2,380 flights
  • Tuesdays75% on time · p90 40 min · 2,963 flights
  • Wednesdays74% on time · p90 45 min · 3,085 flights
  • Thursdays72% on time · p90 55 min · 3,084 flights
  • Mondays71% on time · p90 45 min · 3,090 flights
  • Sundays69% on time · p90 55 min · 2,930 flights
  • Fridays68% on time · p90 55 min · 3,085 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Methodology

A flight is on time when it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule — the US DOT / BTS standard. Median and p90(the “1-in-10 bad day”) are read from the full arrival-delay distribution, never averaged across periods.

Figures cover a carrier’s own BTS-coded flights. Cells below ~200 flights are flagged as limited data. All numbers are pre-computed from public BTS On-Time Performance data.