Airport month record
DCAMAR
Ronald Reagan Washington National in March 2026
- Departures
- 12,204
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at DCA, see live FAA status.
DCA in March carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about seven flights in ten arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 12,204 flights, of which United Airlines flew 538 at 80.4% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 80.4% on time across 538 flights.
Key figures
On time
70.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 11,552 completed departures
Avg delay
85 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
4.98%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
73.3%
DCA across all twelve months
These figures cover 12,204 departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National in March 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
March next to DCA's other months
Against DCA's own year, March ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 73.3%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 71.1% on time and April 77.0%, 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 31 points, against 18 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,622 flights88.4%
- 8am–11am2,508 flights79.7%
- 11am–2pm1,889 flights75.9%
- 2pm–5pm2,304 flights62.8%
- 5pm–8pm2,173 flights57.3%
- 8pm–5am1,708 flights57.7%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 57.3% on time, against 88.4% 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 2,508 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Sunday is the strongest day at 76.0% on time and Friday the weakest at 62.0%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DCA in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 80.4% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 62.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,509 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 3,509 | 62.8% | 93 min | 9.43% | D− |
| American Airlines | 2,359 | 74.6% | 83 min | 2.33% | C |
| Republic Airways | 2,335 | 69.6% | 75 min | 4.84% | C− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,382 | 73.2% | 71 min | 2.53% | C |
| Delta Air Lines | 807 | 75.5% | 96 min | 4.09% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 573 | 67.7% | 77 min | 2.27% | C |
| United Airlines | 538 | 80.4% | 131 min | 2.79% | B |
| Envoy Air | 428 | 75.5% | 78 min | 2.10% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 186 | 67.8% | 60 min | 0.54% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 84 | 82.9% | 78 min | 2.38% | B |
PSA Airlines cancels 9.4% 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA to BOS · Boston | 809 | 67.3% | 73 min | 2.84% | C |
| DCA to ORD · Chicago | 593 | 72.4% | 98 min | 5.90% | C− |
| DCA to ATL · Atlanta | 586 | 77.0% | 81 min | 4.78% | B− |
| DCA to LGA · New York | 436 | 53.1% | 74 min | 11.01% | F− |
| DCA to BNA · Nashville | 382 | 75.7% | 87 min | 3.66% | B− |
| DCA to MCO · Orlando | 380 | 76.7% | 69 min | 4.47% | B− |
| DCA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 337 | 79.4% | 67 min | 2.08% | B |
| DCA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 289 | 83.0% | 149 min | 3.81% | B− |
| DCA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 277 | 80.6% | 137 min | 1.81% | B |
| DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 271 | 73.5% | 120 min | 6.27% | C− |
| DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 221 | 69.0% | 99 min | 4.98% | C− |
| DCA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 218 | 73.7% | 77 min | 2.29% | C |
| DCA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 211 | 68.0% | 71 min | 2.37% | C |
| DCA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 211 | 79.2% | 91 min | 1.90% | B |
| DCA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 200 | 73.2% | 92 min | 3.00% | C |
| DCA to PVD · Providencethin sample | 198 | 69.7% | 92 min | 6.57% | C− |
| DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 189 | 75.4% | 112 min | 4.76% | B− |
| DCA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 189 | 72.4% | 67 min | 2.12% | C |
| DCA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 186 | 71.3% | 68 min | 2.69% | C |
| DCA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 182 | 77.1% | 64 min | 3.85% | B− |
| DCA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 181 | 63.5% | 72 min | 4.97% | D− |
| DCA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 177 | 67.5% | 82 min | 6.21% | C− |
| DCA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 173 | 70.2% | 73 min | 2.89% | C |
| DCA to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 165 | 59.4% | 81 min | 5.45% | D− |
| DCA to CHS · Charlestonthin sample | 152 | 67.1% | 94 min | 5.92% | C− |
Delay causes
What held DCA up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 292,000 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.
- 49%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
49% 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 292,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 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 291,998 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.98%, against 2.90% nationally. That is about 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. 13.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% 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 March
For a March trip through DCA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 88.4% on time, and with 13.1% 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 December66.8%
- DCA in January75.1%
- DCA in February71.1%
- 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.