Carrier route record

YXBUF→DCA

Republic Airways · Buffalo to Washington

Flights: 265
Period: September 2025 to August 2026
Share of route: 24%
Carriers: 4

Historical statistics for September 2025 to August 2026, not live status. For today’s flights, check with Republic Airways.

Republic on BUF to DCA sits in the middle of the pack with a B. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, about a point worse than the national rate of 77.3%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 265 flights, with a median arrival 6 minutes early.

The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate Republic on BUF to DCA from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.

On time

75.9%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 261 completed flights

Avg delay

62 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.51%

National rate is 1.89%

Whole route

65.5%

Every carrier on BUF to DCA, 1,108 flights

These figures cover 265 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 6 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.

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Carrier by carrier

Republic against every carrier on BUF to DCA

Republic flew 265 of the 1,108 flights on BUF to DCA, about 24% of it. Its 75.9% on time is 10 points better than the route as a whole, which runs 65.5%. Ranked by on-time rate it is number two of four carriers on the route, where the range runs from American at 100.0% to Envoy at 60.5%. Two of those carriers flew fewer than 365 flights here, so treat their positions as rough.

Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.

On-time performance by carrier on BUF to DCA
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlinesthin sample	6	100.0%	—	0.00%	A+
Republic Airways (this page)thin sample	265	75.9%	62 min	1.51%	B
PSA Airlines	644	62.2%	136 min	6.37%	D−
Envoy Airthin sample	193	60.5%	72 min	7.77%	D−

Timetable by Aviasales, a Travelpayouts partner. Booking through it may earn this site a commission at no cost to you; it changes no figure here.

Departure window

When Republic runs best on this route

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 51 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier.

5am–8am175 flights87.1%
8am–11am—
11am–2pm54 flights66.7%
2pm–5pm—
5pm–8pm36 flights36.1%
8pm–5am—

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

The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 36.1% on time, against 87.1% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 175 flights scheduled in it.

Across the year

Republic on BUF to DCA through the year

Jul–Sep 202550 flights72.0%
Oct–Dec 2025119 flights70.9%
Jan–Mar 202636 flights88.6%
Apr–Jun 20267 flights—
Jul–Sep 202653 flights88.5%

Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Monthly volumes are too low here to break the year into twelve reliable readings. What the twelve-month total says is 75.9% on time across 265 flights.

Republic on BUF to DCA did not run the same all year. Its best quarter was Jan–Mar 2026 at 88.6% on time and its weakest Oct–Dec 2025 at 70.9%, a swing of 18 points on roughly 66 flights a quarter. The twelve-month rate averages over that, so if you are flying in a weak quarter the quarter's own figure is the better guide.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.5% on time and Sunday the weakest at 63.2%, a spread of 19 points.

Arrival by arrival

How late Republic on BUF to DCA runs when it is late

Republic on BUF to DCA often beats the schedule: 67 of 261 completed flights, 26%, arrived 15 minutes or more early. The 63 late arrivals split 23 under half an hour, 23 between 30 and 60 minutes, and 17 an hour or more.

15+ min early67 flights25.7%
Within 15 min131 flights50.2%
15–29 min late23 flights8.8%
30–59 min late23 flights8.8%
1–2 hours late10 flights3.8%
2+ hours late7 flights2.7%

Scale runs 0% to 100%.

Share of 261 completed flights by arrival against schedule.

7 of 51 late departures made up the time and arrived on time, 14% of them. In the other direction, 19 flights left on time yet arrived 15 minutes late or more, so that delay built up after pushback: in the air, in a holding pattern or on the ground at DCA.

The worst days

Worst days for Republic on BUF to DCA

The latest arrival of the period was on 28 January 2026, 7 hours 20 minutes behind schedule; most of its delay minutes were filed as carrier-caused (crew, maintenance, fuelling, baggage). The same cause led on three of the five worst days.

The latest arrivals of Republic on BUF to DCA in the period
Date	Arrived late by	Largest filed cause
28 January 2026	7 hours 20 minutes	Carrier
25 September 2025	4 hours 48 minutes	Late-arriving aircraft
26 December 2025	4 hours 40 minutes	Carrier
2 December 2025	3 hours 20 minutes	Late-arriving aircraft
24 November 2025	3 hours 6 minutes	Carrier

Delay causes

Why Republic runs late on this route

Carrier accounts for 52% of the 3,888 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.

Carrier
52%
Late-arriving aircraft
27%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 52%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 2,016 of the 3,888 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 3,888 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.51% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.00%.

Connections and stage length

What a delay here costs

6.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

At 296 miles this is a short hop, and stage length matters more than it looks. A flight this short spends under two hours in the air, which leaves almost nothing to claw back a late pushback with. Delay here is decided on the ground, in the turn, which is why the 5am–8am window matters as much as it does.

The return leg is a different operation and performs like one: it runs 64.7% on time across 265 flights, 11 points below this direction. Departure banks, aircraft rotations and the congestion at each end all differ, so scoring the two directions together would average away a real 11 points of difference.

One caution: this is a thin sample. 265 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor but not enough to pin the rate down tightly, and a single bad week moves it by more than a point. Treat the grade as a rough reading.

What to do with this

Booking Republic on BUF to DCA

Put together: treat all of this as provisional. 265 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor and not enough to be confident to better than a couple of points. The 75.9% headline is the most reliable number on the page; the hour and month splits below it are built on a few dozen flights each. 261 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.

Where to go next

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated 22 October 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures