On-Time Report

Routes › Cincinnati (CVG) › CVG to DCA

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Cincinnati to Washington: on-time record

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International to Ronald Reagan Washington National

59.9%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.

Flights from Cincinnati (CVG) to Washington (DCA) arrived on time 59.9% of the time in the 12 months to July 2026. Reporting carriers scheduled 1,017 flights on the route in that period, about 3 a day, a distance of 411 miles.

That is 16.1 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 17.7 points below the 77.6% recorded for all departures from CVG. Flights that did arrive were 31.5 min late on average, and 5.0% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

2 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. Republic Airline had the highest on-time share at 79.4% of 68 flights; PSA Airlines had the lowest at 58.4% of 948.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at CVG), flights leaving from 10 am to 11 am had the highest on-time share, 86.1%; those leaving from 6 pm to 7 pm had the lowest, 43.2%.

The on-time share is down 9.3 points on the previous 12 months (69.2%); cancellations moved from 4.7% to 5.0%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 29% and national aviation system 27%.

59.9%arrived on timenational 76.0%
31.5 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
5.0%cancellednational 1.8%
85flights a month1,017 in 12 months · 411 miles
Every scheduled CVG to DCA flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
OH PSA Airlines94893%58.4%33.7 min5.4%
YX Republic Airline687%79.4%2.6 min0.0%

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

MeasureCVG to DCAAll departures from CVGAll arrivals at DCAAll reported flights
Arrived on time59.9%77.6%68.8%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late35.1%20.2%27.3%21.9%
Cancelled5.0%1.9%3.5%1.8%
Diverted0.0%0.3%0.4%0.3%
Average arrival delay31.5 min7.9 min15.3 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights3,6811,6962,2911,684
Scheduled flights1,01733,916142,2087,043,858

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 CVG, recorded 64.3% on time across 1,019 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled CVG 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 59.9% against 69.2% (−9.3 pts), cancelled 5.0% against 4.7%, flights 1,017 against 1,330.

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 CVG (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 carrier29.4%33.3%10,704
Late-arriving aircraft40.1%39.7%14,567
National Aviation System27.2%20.7%9,877
Extreme weather3.1%6.1%1,112
Security0.3%0.1%101
36,361 delay minutes on 357 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
Jan33162.5%8.2%22.6 min3
Feb32160.4%5.3%29.0 min3
Mar33169.2%3.9%23.4 min3
Apr33368.2%0.9%15.7 min3
May35068.0%2.0%14.2 min3
Jun32065.3%5.0%24.5 min3
Jul32460.2%8.0%30.8 min3
Aug41076.3%2.7%5.6 min3
Sep39480.5%1.3%10.4 min3
Oct42585.4%0.0%-1.9 min3
Nov40378.2%0.5%8.4 min3
Dec37869.3%2.4%17.8 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 Cincinnati (CVG)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
CVG–ORDCincinnati to Chicago4,65568.8%18.5 min3.5%
CVG–ATLCincinnati to Atlanta3,02084.8%-0.9 min1.3%
CVG–BOSCincinnati to Boston1,99977.8%2.1 min3.2%
CVG–MCOCincinnati to Orlando1,79578.4%6.5 min1.2%
CVG–CLTCincinnati to Charlotte1,78578.9%11.5 min2.1%
CVG–DFWCincinnati to Dallas/Fort Worth1,70871.8%10.2 min3.2%
CVG–DENCincinnati to Denver1,50481.4%4.8 min0.9%
CVG–PHLCincinnati to Philadelphia1,25877.8%10.4 min3.2%

All 47 routes and the airport record for CVG · airport record for DCA

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Cincinnati to Washington on time?

59.9% of the 1,017 flights scheduled from CVG 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 CVG to DCA?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, Republic Airline had the highest on-time share (79.4%), followed by PSA Airlines (58.4%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Cincinnati and Washington?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 29%, national aviation system 27%, 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 CVG?

Flights scheduled to leave CVG from 10 am to 11 am arrived on time 86.1% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 6 pm to 7 pm at 43.2%. 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 59.9%, down 9.3 points on the previous 12 months (69.2%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (85.4%) and July the lowest (60.2%).

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.