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DelayAtlas

Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records

CPH→IAD

Copenhagen to Washington

Flights
550 both ways
Carriers
1
Distance
4,063 mi
Period
July 2025 to June 2026
—GRADE

No public record scores Copenhagen to Washington Dulles International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 550 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about five departures a week in each direction, flown by SAS. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 82.2% of all departures from Copenhagen leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 80.0% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 81.0% of IAD's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.

On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Copenhagen ranks 6th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.

Key figures

Flights

550

Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)

Carriers

1

SAS

CPH departures on time

82.2%

All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)

IAD domestic on time

81.0%

US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures

Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 1.0 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Copenhagen so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from IAD ran a little over an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.44% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.

Carrier by carrier

Who flies CPH to IAD

SAS is the only carrier the DOT report shows on CPH to IAD, with 550 flights and an average of 210 passengers aboard each. A single-carrier route gives a delayed passenger no same-day alternative on the same ticket, which is worth knowing before booking a tight onward connection.

Carriers on CPH to IAD by flights operated
AirlineFlightsSharePer monthPassengers / flight
SAS550100%46210

DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.

Across the year

How often CPH to IAD flies through the year

The DOT's international report puts 62 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 26 in January 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.

Flights per month, both directions

  • July 202562
  • August 202562
  • September 202560
  • October 202557
  • November 202532
  • December 202533
  • January 202626
  • February 202630
  • March 202632
  • April 202651
  • May 202654
  • June 202651
Flights in both directions together, as the DOT international report counts them; flights per calendar month.

The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 550 between CPH and IAD from July 2025 to June 2026, about five departures a week in each direction, carrying 115,351 passengers. That makes it the 7th busiest of 12 US routes from Copenhagen and the 16th busiest of 20 European routes into IAD.

The departure airport

How Copenhagen is running

EUROCONTROL's figures for Copenhagen as a whole, every airline and every destination: 82.2% of departures and 80.0% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.9% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 85.2% for departures, 3 points better than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.0 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.6 over the last week.

EUROCONTROL punctuality at Copenhagen
WindowDepartures on timeArrivals on timeSchedules operatedATFM delay / arrival
Yesterday (21 October 2026)89.4%87.7%96.6%0.3 min
Last 7 days85.2%80.8%97.4%0.6 min
Year to date82.2%80.0%96.9%1.0 min

Every US route from Copenhagen, and its full punctuality record

The arrival airport

Landing at Washington Dulles International

Washington Dulles International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 81.0% of its 57,762 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running a little over an hour late, and 1.44% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at IAD reaches a flight from CPH just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Domestic on time

81.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)

Avg delay

80 min

Delayed domestic flights only

Cancelled

1.44%

Domestic departures

57,762

Last twelve months

Washington Dulles International (IAD) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Your rights

EC 261/2004 on CPH to IAD

Every flight that departs Copenhagen falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at Washington Dulles International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from IAD is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 4,063 miles, 6,537 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

What to do with this

Booking CPH to IAD

There is no grade to give CPH to IAD without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about five departures a week in each direction, a single carrier, a departure airport that gets 82% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 81% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at IAD; immigration comes before the connecting flight.

Common questions

CPH to IAD questions

How often are CPH to IAD flights delayed?

No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (82.2% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and IAD's domestic record in the DOT data (81.0% on time).

Which airlines fly CPH to IAD?

SAS. SAS accounted for 100% of the 550 flights the DOT counted on the pair.

Can I claim compensation for a delayed CPH to IAD flight?

Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Copenhagen are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from IAD is covered only on an EU carrier.

How many flights a day are there from CPH to IAD?

About five departures a week in each direction: the DOT counted 550 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 62 in July 2025 and falling to 26 in January 2026.

Related

Where to go next

Denmark publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.

Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.