On-Time Report

Routes › Columbus (CMH) › CMH to DCA

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Columbus to Washington: on-time record

John Glenn Columbus International to Ronald Reagan Washington National

67.5%arrived 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. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.

In the 12 months to July 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 2,051 flights from Columbus (CMH) to Washington (DCA), a distance of 323 miles. 67.5% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.

That is 8.5 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 11.5 points below the 79.0% recorded for all departures from CMH. Flights that did arrive were 14.0 min late on average, and 3.0% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

4 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. Envoy Air had the highest on-time share at 88.5% of 287 flights; Southwest Airlines had the lowest at 58.6% of 350.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at CMH), flights leaving from 6 am to 7 am had the highest on-time share, 85.8%; those leaving from 2 pm to 3 pm had the lowest, 44.7%.

The on-time share is down 5.5 points on the previous 12 months (73.0%); cancellations moved from 3.6% to 3.0%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, national aviation system 44%, late-arriving aircraft 36% and air carrier 17%.

67.5%arrived on timenational 76.0%
14.0 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
3.0%cancellednational 1.8%
171flights a month2,051 in 12 months · 323 miles
Every scheduled CMH to DCA flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
YX Republic Airline98148%65.4%13.5 min3.2%
OH PSA Airlines43321%65.4%19.9 min5.8%
WN Southwest Airlines35017%58.6%23.0 min1.1%
MQ Envoy Air28714%88.5%-3.6 min0.7%

Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.

Compared with the airports and the nation

MeasureCMH to DCAAll departures from CMHAll arrivals at DCAAll reported flights
Arrived on time67.5%79.0%68.8%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late29.3%18.8%27.3%21.9%
Cancelled3.0%2.0%3.5%1.8%
Diverted0.2%0.2%0.4%0.3%
Average arrival delay14.0 min5.2 min15.3 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights2,0961,5002,2911,684
Scheduled flights2,05144,711142,2087,043,858

12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.

The return direction, DCA to CMH, recorded 75.3% on time across 2,052 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled CMH to DCA flights that arrived on time, Aug 2023 to Jul 2026. Green columns are at or above the national figure for that month (the dark tick), amber below it, red more than eight points below.

Year on year: on time 67.5% against 73.0% (−5.5 pts), cancelled 3.0% against 3.6%, flights 2,051 against 2,011.

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over
Share of flights that arrived on time, by the hour they were scheduled to leave CMH (local time), 12 months to July 2026. Faded cells have few flights. Hover or tap a cell for counts.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNationalMinutes
Air carrier17.1%33.3%6,940
Late-arriving aircraft36.2%39.7%14,667
National Aviation System44.0%20.7%17,851
Extreme weather2.7%6.1%1,113
Security0.0%0.1%0
40,571 delay minutes on 601 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Seasonality

Calendar monthFlightsOn timeCancelledAvg arrival delayYears in sample
Jan49570.1%6.9%9.7 min3
Feb47064.7%5.1%12.0 min3
Mar50775.3%1.6%7.3 min3
Apr48775.2%0.4%9.4 min3
May51370.2%1.2%14.5 min3
Jun51071.6%3.9%14.5 min3
Jul50362.2%6.8%24.8 min3
Aug49681.5%1.8%3.7 min3
Sep50485.3%0.4%-0.8 min3
Oct52287.4%0.0%-1.9 min3
Nov49378.7%1.2%1.6 min3
Dec44172.6%1.4%9.2 min3

Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.

Other routes from Columbus (CMH)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
CMH–ORDColumbus to Chicago4,93074.0%13.3 min2.7%
CMH–ATLColumbus to Atlanta3,15583.7%0.4 min1.6%
CMH–LGAColumbus to New York3,04876.1%6.0 min4.2%
CMH–MCOColumbus to Orlando2,14876.6%8.4 min1.5%
CMH–EWRColumbus to Newark2,06379.0%0.2 min4.0%
CMH–CLTColumbus to Charlotte2,04682.8%1.2 min1.9%
CMH–BOSColumbus to Boston2,00580.9%-1.1 min2.1%
CMH–DENColumbus to Denver1,76979.3%6.4 min0.6%

All 40 routes and the airport record for CMH · airport record for DCA

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Columbus to Washington on time?

67.5% of the 2,051 flights scheduled from CMH to DCA in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Which airline has the highest on-time share from CMH to DCA?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, Envoy Air had the highest on-time share (88.5%), followed by Republic Airline (65.4%) and PSA Airlines (65.4%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Columbus and Washington?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: national aviation system 44%, late-arriving aircraft 36%, air carrier 17%, extreme weather 3%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.

What time of day has the highest on-time share from CMH?

Flights scheduled to leave CMH from 6 am to 7 am arrived on time 85.8% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 2 pm to 3 pm at 44.7%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.

Is it getting better?

The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 67.5%, down 5.5 points on the previous 12 months (73.0%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (87.4%) and July the lowest (62.2%).

Where does this data come from?

Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.