OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

New York to Washington

213 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on JFK–DCA arrive on time 64% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate64%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay75 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled5.6%of scheduled flights

based on 2,503 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

  • Republic Airwaysbest
    On-time66%
    Medianon time
    p9065 min
    Cancel5.7%
    Flights2,085
  • JetBlue Airways
    On-time52%
    Median5 min
    p90125 min
    Cancel5.0%
    Flights418

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline20%
  • Weather2%
  • Air traffic (NAS)40%
  • Late aircraft38%
  • Security0%

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

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline9%
  • Weather40%
  • Air traffic (NAS)52%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Air traffic (NAS). Shares are among 139 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 JFK → 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 · 2,199 flights
  • Middays81% on time · p90 50 min · 378 flights
  • Afternoons69% on time · p90 65 min · 1,881 flights
  • Evenings66% on time · p90 70 min · 915 flights
  • Overnights65% on time · p90 75 min · 2,138 flights

Best day of week

On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 70% to 77% on time.

  • Saturdays77% on time · p90 45 min · 1,066 flights
  • Tuesdays75% on time · p90 45 min · 1,071 flights
  • Mondays74% on time · p90 50 min · 1,073 flights
  • Wednesdays73% on time · p90 50 min · 1,075 flights
  • Thursdays71% on time · p90 60 min · 1,066 flights
  • Sundays70% on time · p90 65 min · 1,082 flights
  • Fridays70% on time · p90 70 min · 1,078 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.