Airport month record
DCAAPR
Ronald Reagan Washington National in April 2026
- Departures
- 11,802
- Month
- April 2026
- National, same month
- 79.8%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at DCA, see live FAA status.
DCA in April lands a B+, 3 points worse than the national rate of 79.8%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 11,802 flights, of which Envoy Air flew 423 at 84.1% on time.
Envoy Air is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 84.1% on time across 423 flights.
Key figures
On time
77.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 11,670 completed departures
Avg delay
76 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.80%
Nationally in April: 0.90%
Whole year
73.3%
DCA across all twelve months
These figures cover 11,802 departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National in April 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
April next to DCA's other months
Against DCA's own year, April ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 73.3%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DCA in April, at 0.80% against 3.69% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 70.2% on time and May 74.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 12,192 | 67.0% | 103 min | 9.51% | C− |
| August 2025 | 12,098 | 76.8% | 74 min | 2.12% | B |
| September 2025 | 11,822 | 77.9% | 66 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 12,273 | 76.9% | 61 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 11,586 | 72.7% | 73 min | 3.04% | C− |
| December 2025 | 11,308 | 66.8% | 73 min | 2.28% | C |
| January 2026 | 11,858 | 75.1% | 77 min | 9.43% | B− |
| February 2026 | 10,996 | 71.1% | 71 min | 4.27% | C− |
| March 2026 | 12,204 | 70.2% | 85 min | 4.98% | C− |
| April 2026 (this page) | 11,802 | 77.0% | 76 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 12,158 | 74.8% | 70 min | 1.45% | C |
| June 2026 | 11,953 | 71.6% | 88 min | 4.94% | C− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DCA in April
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,533 flights91.5%
- 8am–11am2,448 flights83.6%
- 11am–2pm1,953 flights81.7%
- 2pm–5pm2,070 flights70.5%
- 5pm–8pm2,144 flights65.5%
- 8pm–5am1,654 flights70.8%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.5% of the time, against 65.5% for the evening window. That is 26 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 2,448 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 86.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 71.7%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DCA in April
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Envoy Air arrives on time 84.1% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 70.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,406 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 3,406 | 70.9% | 79 min | 1.29% | C |
| Republic Airways | 2,384 | 79.9% | 66 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 2,137 | 79.7% | 88 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,324 | 77.3% | 52 min | 0.08% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 779 | 82.3% | 78 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 547 | 78.1% | 108 min | 1.10% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 543 | 73.5% | 76 min | 0.74% | C+ |
| Envoy Air | 423 | 84.1% | 80 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 180 | 83.5% | 54 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 79 | 80.8% | 75 min | 1.27% | B |
The spread between Envoy and PSA is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DCA in April
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA to BOS · Boston | 783 | 72.9% | 74 min | 0.38% | C+ |
| DCA to ORD · Chicago | 567 | 76.4% | 105 min | 3.88% | B− |
| DCA to ATL · Atlanta | 563 | 83.1% | 71 min | 0.36% | B+ |
| DCA to LGA · New York | 422 | 65.3% | 67 min | 1.42% | C |
| DCA to MCO · Orlando | 383 | 83.6% | 95 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to BNA · Nashville | 371 | 79.2% | 51 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| DCA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 329 | 80.7% | 104 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 294 | 79.9% | 122 min | 1.02% | B |
| DCA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 282 | 83.3% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 262 | 78.2% | 74 min | 1.53% | B |
| DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 215 | 82.3% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 206 | 86.8% | 84 min | 0.49% | A+ |
| DCA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 201 | 69.0% | 63 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| DCA to PVD · Providencethin sample | 197 | 76.5% | 70 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| DCA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 193 | 76.8% | 40 min | 0.52% | B+ |
| DCA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 180 | 85.6% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 177 | 76.7% | 60 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| DCA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 173 | 80.0% | 57 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 169 | 84.0% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 167 | 85.0% | 70 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DCA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 166 | 75.8% | 77 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| DCA to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 163 | 76.7% | 56 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 155 | 81.0% | 63 min | 1.29% | B |
| DCA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 150 | 83.2% | 72 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to CHS · Charlestonthin sample | 148 | 78.8% | 131 min | 1.35% | B |
Delay causes
What held DCA up in April
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 204,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 51%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
51% 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 204,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 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. The split is drawn from 203,572 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.80%, below the national 0.90% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
8.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from DCA in April
For a April trip through DCA: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 77.0% on time with 0.80% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA), the whole year
- DCA in July67.0%
- DCA in August76.8%
- DCA in September77.9%
- DCA in October76.9%
- DCA in November72.7%
- DCA in December66.8%
- DCA in January75.1%
- DCA in February71.1%
- DCA in March70.2%
- DCA in May74.8%
- DCA in June71.6%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.