Airport month record
DCAJAN
Ronald Reagan Washington National in January 2026
- Departures
- 11,858
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at DCA, see live FAA status.
DCA in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 9.4% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% 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 11,858 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,345 at 85.5% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 85.5% on time across 1,345 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,715 completed departures
Avg delay
77 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
9.43%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
73.3%
DCA across all twelve months
These figures cover 11,858 departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National in January 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
January next to DCA's other months
Against DCA's own year, January ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 73.3%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 9.43% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 66.8% on time and February 71.1%, 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 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 23 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,570 flights89.2%
- 8am–11am2,492 flights80.2%
- 11am–2pm1,877 flights78.4%
- 2pm–5pm2,151 flights70.0%
- 5pm–8pm2,164 flights66.5%
- 8pm–5am1,604 flights67.7%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.2% of the time, against 66.5% for the evening window. That is 23 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 2,492 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 79.3% on time and Monday the weakest at 72.8%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DCA in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 85.5% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 65.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,082 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 3,082 | 65.5% | 84 min | 12.39% | C− |
| American Airlines | 2,447 | 78.1% | 77 min | 10.22% | B− |
| Republic Airways | 2,379 | 77.6% | 68 min | 9.42% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,345 | 85.5% | 64 min | 5.95% | A− |
| Delta Air Lines | 795 | 78.4% | 72 min | 6.67% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 579 | 67.0% | 89 min | 8.64% | C− |
| United Airlines | 522 | 80.8% | 68 min | 4.79% | B− |
| Envoy Air | 438 | 74.5% | 85 min | 8.45% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 186 | 71.1% | 54 min | 6.99% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 85 | 79.0% | 67 min | 4.71% | B− |
PSA Airlines cancels 12.4% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA to BOS · Boston | 754 | 75.6% | 89 min | 9.15% | B− |
| DCA to ORD · Chicago | 588 | 76.2% | 63 min | 7.65% | B− |
| DCA to ATL · Atlanta | 572 | 81.5% | 71 min | 9.27% | B− |
| DCA to LGA · New York | 404 | 78.4% | 71 min | 9.16% | B− |
| DCA to MCO · Orlando | 378 | 74.5% | 61 min | 7.67% | C− |
| DCA to BNA · Nashville | 369 | 82.7% | 75 min | 9.21% | B− |
| DCA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 340 | 78.9% | 65 min | 8.82% | B− |
| DCA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 282 | 84.1% | 64 min | 6.38% | B− |
| DCA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 277 | 80.6% | 84 min | 12.64% | B− |
| DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 249 | 72.2% | 71 min | 8.43% | C− |
| DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 223 | 71.6% | 70 min | 6.73% | C− |
| DCA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 222 | 66.2% | 79 min | 6.76% | C− |
| DCA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 217 | 82.6% | 112 min | 12.44% | B− |
| DCA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 211 | 72.2% | 88 min | 7.58% | C− |
| DCA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 205 | 81.5% | 72 min | 10.24% | B− |
| DCA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 199 | 80.6% | 91 min | 6.53% | B− |
| DCA to PVD · Providencethin sample | 196 | 74.4% | 70 min | 10.20% | C− |
| DCA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 182 | 74.5% | 73 min | 9.34% | C− |
| DCA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 179 | 86.7% | 59 min | 7.26% | A− |
| DCA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 176 | 69.1% | 64 min | 13.64% | C− |
| DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 173 | 82.7% | 58 min | 6.36% | B− |
| DCA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 168 | 78.1% | 118 min | 7.74% | B− |
| DCA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 168 | 75.8% | 54 min | 8.93% | B− |
| DCA to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 162 | 82.3% | 56 min | 9.26% | B− |
| DCA to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 146 | 84.3% | 55 min | 8.22% | B− |
Delay causes
What held DCA up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 58% of the 205,000 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.
- 58%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 12%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
58% 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 205,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 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 204,826 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 9.43%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in ten 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. 10.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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 January
For a January trip through DCA: expect 75.1% on time and 9.43% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the 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 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.