Airport month record

DCANOV

Ronald Reagan Washington National in November 2025

Departures: 11,586
Month: November 2025
National, same month: 79.4%
Carriers: 10

Historical statistics for November 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s November. For today’s conditions at DCA, see live FAA status.

DCA in November sits in the middle of the pack with a C−. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 7 points worse than the national rate of 79.4%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 11,586 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 761 at 79.4% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 79.4% on time across 761 flights.

On time

72.7%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 11,208 completed departures

Avg delay

73 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

3.04%

Nationally in November: 2.49%

Whole year

73.3%

DCA across all twelve months

These figures cover 11,586 departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National in November 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

November next to DCA's other months

Against DCA's own year, November ran level with the twelve-month rate of 73.3%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, October ran 76.9% on time and December 66.8%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

DCA month by month
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 (this page)	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	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 November

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 31 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,488 flights90.5%
8am–11am2,471 flights83.2%
11am–2pm1,994 flights72.7%
2pm–5pm1,884 flights66.6%
5pm–8pm2,186 flights59.3%
8pm–5am1,563 flights64.4%

Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 59.3% on time, against 90.5% 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 2,471 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 81.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 65.9%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at DCA in November

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 79.4% of the time; PSA Airlines manages 66.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,337 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at DCA in November 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PSA Airlines	3,337	66.6%	73 min	4.08%	C−
Republic Airways	2,267	73.4%	66 min	4.23%	C−
American Airlines	2,207	75.0%	82 min	1.59%	B
Southwest Airlines	1,294	76.0%	67 min	2.55%	B
Delta Air Lines	761	79.4%	81 min	1.71%	B
JetBlue Airways	551	68.6%	79 min	3.27%	C−
United Airlines	503	77.6%	74 min	1.59%	B
Envoy Air	385	78.7%	58 min	2.60%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	175	75.0%	41 min	0.57%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	82	80.5%	60 min	0.00%	B+

Republic Airways cancels 4.2% 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 November

Routes from DCA in November 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
DCA to BOS · Boston	735	72.3%	86 min	3.27%	C−
DCA to ORD · Chicago	563	72.8%	73 min	5.15%	C−
DCA to ATL · Atlanta	543	78.4%	98 min	3.31%	B−
DCA to LGA · New York	394	57.1%	82 min	4.82%	D−
DCA to MCO · Orlando	372	74.6%	63 min	3.23%	C−
DCA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	360	76.2%	64 min	1.94%	B
DCA to MIA · Miamithin sample	310	77.7%	47 min	1.61%	B
DCA to IAH · Houstonthin sample	270	81.3%	67 min	2.96%	B
DCA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	264	76.2%	60 min	0.76%	B+
DCA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	255	70.0%	58 min	4.71%	C−
DCA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	253	72.1%	77 min	3.56%	C−
DCA to STL · St. Louisthin sample	209	74.1%	67 min	1.91%	C
DCA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	207	84.3%	65 min	1.45%	B
DCA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	206	78.0%	114 min	0.49%	B+
DCA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	200	64.1%	84 min	2.50%	D
DCA to TPA · Tampathin sample	196	77.4%	69 min	3.06%	B−
DCA to PVD · Providencethin sample	193	75.8%	59 min	3.63%	B−
DCA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	170	77.4%	66 min	7.65%	B−
DCA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	169	71.7%	68 min	1.78%	C
DCA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample	168	73.8%	56 min	2.38%	C
DCA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample	168	75.3%	78 min	1.19%	B
DCA to CMH · Columbusthin sample	166	73.1%	58 min	3.61%	C−
DCA to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	165	77.0%	64 min	1.82%	B
DCA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	163	72.6%	55 min	3.68%	C−
DCA to CHS · Charlestonthin sample	143	70.0%	69 min	2.10%	C

Delay causes

What held DCA up in November

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 56% of the 222,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
56%
National Airspace System
21%
Carrier
21%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
1%

56% 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 222,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 43 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 222,194 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations run at 3.04%, against 2.49% nationally. That is roughly one flight in 30 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. 11.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.8% 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 November

For a November trip through DCA: expect 72.7% on time and 3.04% cancelled, going by November 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

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 December66.8%
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.

Key figures