Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records
LIS→IAD
Lisbon to Washington
- Flights
- 1,678 both ways
- Carriers
- 2
- Distance
- 3,583 mi
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
No public record scores Lisbon 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 1,678 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about two departures a day in each direction, flown by TAP and United. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 57.5% of all departures from Lisbon leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 72.3% 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, Lisbon ranks 36th 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
1,678
Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)
Carriers
2
TAP Air Portugal, United Airlines
LIS departures on time
57.5%
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 1.8 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Lisbon 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 LIS to IAD
TAP Air Portugal flew 63% of the 1,678 flights between LIS and IAD in the DOT's count, with United Airlines on 625. Loads averaged 173 passengers a flight, which on this route means wide-body aircraft nearly full.
| Airline | Flights | Share | Per month | Passengers / flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAP Air Portugal | 1,053 | 63% | 88 | 150 |
| United Airlines | 625 | 37% | 52 | 211 |
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 LIS to IAD flies through the year
The DOT's international report puts 182 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 60 in February 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 2025182
- August 2025182
- September 2025175
- October 2025170
- November 2025114
- December 2025118
- January 202667
- February 202660
- March 2026122
- April 2026146
- May 2026166
- June 2026176
The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 1,678 between LIS and IAD from July 2025 to June 2026, about two departures a day in each direction, carrying 289,518 passengers. That makes it the 3rd busiest of 9 US routes from Lisbon and the 5th busiest of 20 European routes into IAD.
The departure airport
How Lisbon is running
EUROCONTROL's figures for Lisbon as a whole, every airline and every destination: 57.5% of departures and 72.3% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.6% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 57.5% for departures, in line with the year. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.8 minutes per arriving flight this year, 1.2 over the last week.
| Window | Departures on time | Arrivals on time | Schedules operated | ATFM delay / arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday (21 October 2026) | 66.9% | 80.7% | 97.9% | 0.5 min |
| Last 7 days | 57.5% | 73.9% | 96.7% | 1.2 min |
| Year to date | 57.5% | 72.3% | 96.6% | 1.8 min |
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 LIS 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 LIS to IAD
Every flight that departs Lisbon 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 3,583 miles, 5,765 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 LIS to IAD
There is no grade to give LIS to IAD without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about two departures a day in each direction, a choice of two carriers, a departure airport that gets 58% 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
LIS to IAD questions
How often are LIS 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 (57.5% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and IAD's domestic record in the DOT data (81.0% on time).
Which airlines fly LIS to IAD?
TAP Air Portugal and United Airlines, in order of flights operated between July 2025 and June 2026. TAP Air Portugal accounted for 63% of the 1,678 flights the DOT counted on the pair.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed LIS 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 Lisbon 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 LIS to IAD?
About two departures a day in each direction: the DOT counted 1,678 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 182 in July 2025 and falling to 60 in February 2026.
Related
Where to go next
- Lisbon (LIS): every US route
- Washington Dulles International (IAD) delay statistics
- LIS to EWR, Newark (EWR)2,069 flights
- LIS to BOS, Boston (BOS)1,889 flights
- LIS to JFK, New York (JFK)1,410 flights
- LIS to MIA, Miami (MIA)1,033 flights
- LHR to IAD, from London3,880 flights
- FRA to IAD, from Frankfurt2,352 flights
- DUB to IAD, from Dublin2,342 flights
- CDG to IAD, from Paris2,247 flights
- Every Europe-to-US route and airport
Portugal 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.