Airport month record
DCADEC
Ronald Reagan Washington National in December 2025
- Departures
- 11,308
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at DCA, see live FAA status.
DCA in December draws a C. About one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is a little over an hour behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 11,308 flights, of which United Airlines flew 504 at 81.3% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 81.3% on time across 504 flights.
Key figures
On time
66.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 11,032 completed departures
Avg delay
73 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.28%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
73.3%
DCA across all twelve months
These figures cover 11,308 departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National in December 2025. 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
December next to DCA's other months
Against DCA's own year, December ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 73.3%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, November ran 72.7% on time and January 75.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 26 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,522 flights81.8%
- 8am–11am2,417 flights71.3%
- 11am–2pm1,803 flights66.2%
- 2pm–5pm2,043 flights62.0%
- 5pm–8pm2,130 flights59.6%
- 8pm–5am1,393 flights61.2%
Scale runs 50% to 85%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 59.6% on time, against 81.8% 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. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 2,417 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 75.3% on time and Friday the weakest at 50.0%. 25 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DCA in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.3% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 55.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,150 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 3,150 | 55.3% | 84 min | 4.83% | D− |
| American Airlines | 2,255 | 73.8% | 71 min | 0.44% | C+ |
| Republic Airways | 1,960 | 66.8% | 65 min | 2.35% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,380 | 72.8% | 49 min | 0.07% | C+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 775 | 72.0% | 72 min | 2.71% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 576 | 61.3% | 90 min | 1.74% | D |
| United Airlines | 504 | 81.3% | 73 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| Envoy Air | 424 | 75.4% | 59 min | 3.77% | B− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 186 | 56.5% | 57 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 83 | 73.2% | 48 min | 0.00% | C+ |
PSA Airlines cancels 4.8% 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
Busiest routes out of DCA in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA to BOS · Boston | 691 | 69.8% | 73 min | 1.30% | C |
| DCA to ORD · Chicago | 555 | 74.2% | 79 min | 1.44% | C |
| DCA to ATL · Atlanta | 544 | 72.9% | 63 min | 3.68% | C− |
| DCA to MCO · Orlando | 412 | 65.3% | 82 min | 0.73% | C+ |
| DCA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 344 | 70.8% | 58 min | 0.29% | C+ |
| DCA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 344 | 75.9% | 83 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 342 | 57.0% | 73 min | 3.22% | D− |
| DCA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 274 | 75.0% | 59 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| DCA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 274 | 80.5% | 73 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 238 | 67.4% | 82 min | 3.36% | C− |
| DCA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 233 | 60.2% | 75 min | 0.86% | D+ |
| DCA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 215 | 68.1% | 58 min | 5.12% | C− |
| DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 212 | 67.6% | 72 min | 2.36% | C |
| DCA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 208 | 76.8% | 91 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| DCA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 203 | 66.5% | 51 min | 1.48% | C |
| DCA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 200 | 69.0% | 70 min | 1.00% | C |
| DCA to PVD · Providencethin sample | 191 | 67.6% | 66 min | 1.57% | C |
| DCA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 190 | 67.9% | 69 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 176 | 72.4% | 58 min | 1.14% | C |
| DCA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 173 | 77.3% | 45 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DCA to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 163 | 68.1% | 63 min | 1.23% | C |
| DCA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 160 | 65.0% | 74 min | 1.88% | C |
| DCA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 150 | 60.7% | 54 min | 3.33% | D− |
| DCA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 149 | 65.7% | 74 min | 3.36% | C− |
| DCA to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 149 | 79.1% | 54 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held DCA up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 267,000 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
- 20%National Airspace System
- 4%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 267,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 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 266,818 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.28% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.16%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 13.5% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% 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.
What to do with this
Flying from DCA in December
For a December trip through DCA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 81.8% on time, and with 13.5% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
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 January75.1%
- DCA in February71.1%
- DCA in March70.2%
- DCA in April77.0%
- 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.