Route profile
AUS→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Washington, 1,315 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 43% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,126 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → DCA arrives on time 71.6% of the time; the return trip, DCA → AUS, arrives on time 55.9% of the time, a 15.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → DCA spends 21.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,315-mile trip: 14.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 7.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at DCA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 98% of 4,467 comparable routes.
77.7% on time on a typical Saturday, against 60.0% on a Friday.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to DCA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to DCA struggles most at 1 PM: 68.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.9 points behind the 75.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
Friday is the day AUS to DCA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 60.0% on time where they average 76.1%, 16.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on AUS to DCA arrive on time 71.6% of the time, 4.2 points below the 75.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
AUS to DCA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 68.8% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −6.9 pts | 301 here, 94,021 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 60.0% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | −16.1 pts | 160 here, 259,634 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 71.6% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −4.2 pts | 1,106 here, 389,924 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,315 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 3 min late
Percentiles over 1,126 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DCA after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 54% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.80% of the time and diverts 0.98% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,106 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,126 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why AUS → DCA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AUS → DCA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,126 | 71.6% | 0.80% | 3 min | 6.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 17.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 65.9% against 66.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,126 AUS → DCA flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed