On-Time Report

Routes › Washington (IAD) › IAD to CLT

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Washington to Charlotte: on-time record

Washington Dulles International to Charlotte Douglas International

81.1%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 1,988 flights from Washington (IAD) to Charlotte (CLT), a distance of 322 miles. 81.1% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.

That is 5.1 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 1.0 points above the 80.1% recorded for all departures from IAD. Flights that did arrive were 2.9 min late on average, and 2.6% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

3 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. PSA Airlines had the highest on-time share at 82.0% of 978 flights; Republic Airline had the lowest at 79.1% of 483.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at IAD), flights leaving from 5 am to 6 am had the highest on-time share, 89.2%; those leaving from 4 pm to 5 pm had the lowest, 68.1%.

The on-time share is up 2.4 points on the previous 12 months (78.7%); cancellations moved from 2.5% to 2.6%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 34% and national aviation system 13%.

81.1%arrived on timenational 76.0%
2.9 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
2.6%cancellednational 1.8%
166flights a month1,988 in 12 months · 322 miles
Every scheduled IAD to CLT flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
OH PSA Airlines97849%82.0%2.0 min3.1%
AA American Airlines50025%81.0%5.5 min2.0%
YX Republic Airline48324%79.1%2.0 min2.5%
UA United Airlines271%88.9%0.2 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

MeasureIAD to CLTAll departures from IADAll arrivals at CLTAll reported flights
Arrived on time81.1%80.1%80.0%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late16.1%18.2%17.8%21.9%
Cancelled2.6%1.4%2.1%1.8%
Diverted0.2%0.3%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay2.9 min4.8 min5.8 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights1,5181,5141,7281,684
Scheduled flights1,98858,031181,5057,043,858

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, CLT to IAD, recorded 78.0% on time across 1,990 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled IAD to CLT 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 81.1% against 78.7% (+2.4 pts), cancelled 2.6% against 2.5%, flights 1,988 against 2,101.

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 IAD (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 carrier34.2%33.3%9,862
Late-arriving aircraft49.0%39.7%14,130
National Aviation System12.9%20.7%3,731
Extreme weather3.8%6.1%1,104
Security0.0%0.1%9
28,836 delay minutes on 320 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
Jan49175.6%6.3%7.7 min3
Feb48182.3%2.5%-1.6 min3
Mar48181.9%2.5%-1.3 min3
Apr57083.0%0.4%2.8 min3
May57177.1%1.8%11.0 min3
Jun45879.3%2.6%9.9 min3
Jul48871.1%4.7%16.4 min3
Aug53478.7%2.2%8.0 min3
Sep45187.6%1.1%-0.5 min3
Oct44988.9%0.0%-5.3 min3
Nov56086.1%0.7%-0.7 min3
Dec49477.1%0.0%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 Washington (IAD)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
IAD–ATLWashington to Atlanta3,98976.7%8.0 min2.1%
IAD–DENWashington to Denver3,46582.1%1.9 min0.5%
IAD–SFOWashington to San Francisco2,72978.0%6.0 min0.8%
IAD–LAXWashington to Los Angeles2,47283.0%-1.9 min0.8%
IAD–MCOWashington to Orlando2,17779.9%3.6 min1.1%
IAD–ORDWashington to Chicago2,08574.4%12.2 min1.0%
IAD–DFWWashington to Dallas/Fort Worth1,95175.2%11.4 min1.9%
IAD–IAHWashington to Houston1,87383.7%-0.7 min0.4%

All 78 routes and the airport record for IAD · airport record for CLT

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Washington to Charlotte on time?

81.1% of the 1,988 flights scheduled from IAD to CLT 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 IAD to CLT?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, PSA Airlines had the highest on-time share (82.0%), followed by American Airlines (81.0%) and Republic Airline (79.1%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Washington and Charlotte?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 34%, national aviation system 13%, extreme weather 4%, 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 IAD?

Flights scheduled to leave IAD from 5 am to 6 am arrived on time 89.2% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 4 pm to 5 pm at 68.1%. 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 81.1%, up 2.4 points on the previous 12 months (78.7%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (88.9%) and July the lowest (71.1%).

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.