Ronald Reagan Washington National in December 2023

82.9%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In December 2023, reporting carriers scheduled 11,014 domestic departures from Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA). 82.9% left less than 15 minutes late and 84.9% reached their destination on time; 0.5% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 83.1% of flights departed on time and 83.8% arrived on time, so DCA departures were level with the national departure figure.

Flights arriving at DCA that month were on time 82.2% of the time (11,013 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 51%, air carrier 32% and national aviation system 13%.

On time 84.9%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 14.4%
Cancelled 0.5%
Diverted 0.2%

Every scheduled departure from DCA in December 2023, judged by arrival at the destination.

December 2023 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Dec 2023	Year earlier	DCA, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2023
Departed on time	82.9%	—	70.9%	83.1%
Arrived on time	84.9%	—	70.1%	83.8%
Cancelled	0.5%	—	3.6%	0.4%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	12.7 min	—	21.2 min	11.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	367	—	390	19,013
Scheduled departures	11,014	—	142,173	570,394

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
OH PSA Airlines	2,881	26%	83.7%	-0.6 min	0.7%
AA American Airlines	2,083	19%	83.7%	-0.9 min	0.1%
YX Republic Airline	1,952	18%	89.6%	-9.7 min	0.6%
WN Southwest Airlines	1,344	12%	82.6%	1.0 min	0.6%
B6 JetBlue Airways	753	7%	69.3%	16.2 min	1.1%
DL Delta Air Lines	747	7%	94.2%	-12.6 min	0.0%
UA United Airlines	493	4%	94.7%	-10.8 min	0.0%
MQ Envoy Air	349	3%	81.1%	2.1 min	0.3%
AS Alaska Airlines	155	1%	88.4%	-16.8 min	0.0%
9E Endeavor Air	141	1%	83.0%	11.1 min	0.7%
F9 Frontier Airlines	93	1%	92.5%	-25.1 min	0.0%
OO SkyWest Airlines	23	0%	87.0%	16.3 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DCA–BOS	Washington to Boston	638	80.4%	1.6 min	1.9%
DCA–ATL	Washington to Atlanta	554	90.8%	-7.8 min	0.4%
DCA–ORD	Washington to Chicago	492	92.9%	-10.1 min	0.0%
DCA–MCO	Washington to Orlando	483	78.9%	6.8 min	0.2%
DCA–MIA	Washington to Miami	323	81.4%	1.7 min	0.0%
DCA–BNA	Washington to Nashville	322	88.2%	-3.8 min	0.3%
DCA–LGA	Washington to New York	318	82.1%	-5.4 min	0.9%
DCA–DFW	Washington to Dallas/Fort Worth	271	84.9%	2.4 min	0.0%
DCA–JFK	Washington to New York	256	76.6%	7.5 min	1.6%
DCA–CLT	Washington to Charlotte	250	90.4%	-5.1 min	0.0%
DCA–FLL	Washington to Fort Lauderdale	229	72.5%	11.8 min	0.0%
DCA–DTW	Washington to Detroit	217	92.6%	-11.2 min	0.0%

By scheduled departure hour

100

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), December 2023.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2023	Minutes
Air carrier	32.4%	37.1%	38,012
Late-arriving aircraft	50.5%	38.8%	59,379
National Aviation System	12.8%	17.6%	15,008
Extreme weather	4.2%	6.2%	4,977
Security	0.1%	0.3%	119

117,495 delay minutes on 1,584 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left DCA on time in December 2023?

82.9% of 11,014 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 84.9% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 83.1% and 83.8%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

December 2022 is outside the 36 months on file, or the airport had too few reported flights that month.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for December 2023; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for DCA · methodology · corrections.