Carrier performance at one airport
YX→DCA
Republic Airways at Ronald Reagan Washington National
- Departures
- 27,320
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 25
- Rank here
- #5 of 10
Republic Airways at Washington carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.6% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.8% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 27,320 flights, of which Frontier Airlines flew 983 at 78.7% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Republic Airways runs 3 points ahead of the 72.8% weighted average across all carriers at DCA. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
75.6%
26,040 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
4.56%
At DCA, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 10 carriers clearing the floor at DCA
These figures cover 27,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at DCA, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Frontier Airlines arrives on time 78.7% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 67.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 39,669 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Airlines | 983 | 78.7% | 80 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 9,457 | 78.0% | 93 min | 2.51% | B |
| United Airlines | 6,888 | 77.6% | 88 min | 1.52% | B |
| Envoy Air | 4,921 | 77.2% | 73 min | 4.25% | B− |
| Republic Airways (this page) | 27,320 | 75.6% | 68 min | 4.56% | B− |
| American Airlines | 27,956 | 74.4% | 85 min | 2.78% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 16,065 | 74.3% | 65 min | 1.66% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 2,184 | 70.5% | 59 min | 1.14% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 6,695 | 68.8% | 83 min | 2.79% | C |
| PSA Airlines | 39,669 | 67.0% | 80 min | 5.80% | C− |
PSA Airlines cancels 5.8% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where Republic Airways flies from DCA
Republic Airways operates 25 routes out of DCA with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA to LGA · New York | 4,770 | 67.0% | 72 min | 6.06% | C− |
| DCA to BOS · Boston | 4,010 | 77.2% | 70 min | 4.51% | B− |
| DCA to JFK · New York | 2,053 | 76.4% | 69 min | 5.94% | B− |
| DCA to BNA · Nashville | 1,871 | 82.7% | 65 min | 2.14% | B |
| DCA to IND · Indianapolis | 1,804 | 76.5% | 70 min | 4.16% | B− |
| DCA to ORD · Chicago | 995 | 75.1% | 77 min | 5.73% | B− |
| DCA to CMH · Columbus | 908 | 79.6% | 63 min | 2.97% | B |
| DCA to PIT · Pittsburgh | 766 | 73.1% | 63 min | 4.31% | C− |
| DCA to RDU · Raleigh | 525 | 66.8% | 72 min | 8.19% | C− |
| DCA to IAH · Houston | 511 | 75.7% | 56 min | 5.09% | B− |
| DCA to ATL · Atlanta | 491 | 81.2% | 53 min | 4.68% | B− |
| DCA to MEM · Memphis | 480 | 73.4% | 71 min | 3.54% | C− |
| DCA to MSN · Madison | 424 | 75.6% | 73 min | 4.48% | B− |
| DCA to SDF · Louisville | 423 | 74.2% | 85 min | 7.09% | C− |
| DCA to CHS · Charleston | 409 | 80.3% | 68 min | 3.18% | B− |
| DCA to BDL · Hartford | 394 | 70.8% | 61 min | 3.55% | C− |
| DCA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 333 | 90.1% | 56 min | 3.30% | A− |
| DCA to LEX · Lexingtonthin sample | 303 | 74.9% | 87 min | 3.63% | C− |
| DCA to OMA · Omahathin sample | 303 | 86.9% | 63 min | 1.98% | A |
| DCA to DSM · Des Moinesthin sample | 300 | 69.7% | 70 min | 4.33% | C− |
| DCA to BUF · Buffalothin sample | 277 | 63.1% | 49 min | 7.94% | D− |
| DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 268 | 80.9% | 72 min | 3.36% | B− |
| DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 252 | 82.9% | 38 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 231 | 76.6% | 75 min | 5.19% | B− |
| DCA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 224 | 86.9% | 44 min | 0.89% | A+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am3,525 flights90.2%
- 8am–11am5,525 flights84.6%
- 11am–2pm4,414 flights77.6%
- 2pm–5pm4,494 flights69.9%
- 5pm–8pm4,586 flights62.3%
- 8pm–5am4,776 flights69.8%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 62.3% on time, against 90.2% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
December is the weak month at 66.8% on time, against 82.9% in August. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%National Airspace System
- 20%Carrier
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 429,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations run at 4.56%, against 1.80% nationally. That is roughly one flight in twenty cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
27,320 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 4.56% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you about an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 5am–8am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic.
Common questions
Republic Airways at DCA
How often is Republic Airways at DCA delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 24.4% of the 27,320 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Republic Airways at DCA?
Frontier Airlines leads at 78.7% on time across 983 flights. PSA Airlines is at the other end on 67.0%, a gap of 12 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Republic Airways at DCA?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.2% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 62.3%, 28 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Republic Airways at DCA?
December is the weakest month at 66.8% on time, compared with 82.9% in August. Across the year that is 16 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.