Route profile
CLT→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Washington, 331 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 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,404 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → DCA arrives on time 69.5% of the time; the return trip, DCA → CLT, arrives on time 77.9% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → DCA spends 30.7 minutes on the ground on a 331-mile trip: 24.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at DCA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to DCA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to DCA struggles most at 12 PM: 60.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 21 points behind the 81.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.8 points.
Friday is the day CLT to DCA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.0% on time where they average 77.5%, 12.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
In February, CLT to DCA runs 13.7 points below routes of similar length, 69.1% on time to 82.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.4 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to DCA arrive on time 68.7% of the time, 8.6 points below the 77.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
CLT to DCA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 60.6% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | −21.0 pts | 226 here, 55,748 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 65.0% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −12.5 pts | 1,317 here, 164,358 there |
| Month: February | 69.1% | routes of similar length | 82.8% | −13.7 pts | 715 here, 75,687 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 68.7% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | −8.6 pts | 7,624 here, 135,188 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 331 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.
Why CLT → DCA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CLT → DCA cancelled 179 of 9,404 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 53. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 83.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 63 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 179 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
149 cancellations, 83.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
16 cancellations, 8.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
14 cancellations, 7.8% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
179 coded cancellations were recorded on CLT → DCA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
62 min late
against a median of 1 min late
CLT → DCA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth are 61 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 9,404 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DCA after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 29% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.7% | Some 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 1.90% of the time and diverts 0.32% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,195 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 62 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,404 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → DCA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 83.2% of the time, against 59.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 77.3% on time from 710 flights
- 8 AM: 78.5% on time from 551 flights
- 9 AM: 83.4% on time from 1,094 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 82.8% on time from 911 flights
- 12 PM: 60.6% on time from 233 flights
- 1 PM: 75.1% on time from 577 flights
- 2 PM: 59.1% on time from 666 flights
- 3 PM: 63.4% on time from 353 flights
- 4 PM: 64.3% on time from 565 flights
- 5 PM: 52.2% on time from 450 flights
- 6 PM: 60.2% on time from 904 flights
- 7 PM: 53.2% on time from 240 flights
- 8 PM: 60.7% on time from 1,010 flights
- 9 PM: 74.4% on time from 124 flights
- 10 PM: 69.7% on time from 994 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLT → DCA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
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 CLT → DCA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → DCA, at 39.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 83.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 59.7%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 7,812 | 68.7% | 2.11% | 1 min | 10.5% |
| PSA Airlines | 1,592 | 73.6% | 0.88% | -1 min | 10.1% |
American Airlines flew 83.1% of the 9,404 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.11% of its flights here against 0.88% for PSA Airlines.
PSA Airlines arrived on time 4.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 12.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.1%
- Feb: 69.1%
- Mar: 67.0%
- Apr: 67.9%
- May: 69.4%
- Jun: 64.3%
- Jul: 59.8%
- Aug: 68.6%
- Sep: 74.1%
- Oct: 76.4%
- Nov: 72.5%
- Dec: 75.5%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 16.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.7% from 220 flights
- August 2023: 71.5% from 244 flights
- September 2023: 78.3% from 265 flights
- October 2023: 82.5% from 280 flights
- November 2023: 80.8% from 266 flights
- December 2023: 83.2% from 250 flights
- January 2024: 66.0% from 263 flights
- February 2024: 76.2% from 261 flights
- March 2024: 64.4% from 279 flights
- April 2024: 66.3% from 270 flights
- May 2024: 60.1% from 272 flights
- June 2024: 62.9% from 255 flights
- July 2024: 51.4% from 263 flights
- August 2024: 65.6% from 279 flights
- September 2024: 72.4% from 298 flights
- October 2024: 83.5% from 285 flights
- November 2024: 74.5% from 263 flights
- December 2024: 73.5% from 270 flights
- January 2025: 76.1% from 299 flights
- February 2025: 65.6% from 280 flights
- March 2025: 70.6% from 310 flights
- April 2025: 64.1% from 272 flights
- May 2025: 69.9% from 279 flights
- June 2025: 63.4% from 256 flights
- July 2025: 61.1% from 246 flights
- August 2025: 69.2% from 242 flights
- September 2025: 71.6% from 240 flights
- October 2025: 61.4% from 248 flights
- November 2025: 59.2% from 206 flights
- December 2025: 68.9% from 209 flights
- January 2026: 70.7% from 216 flights
- February 2026: 64.1% from 192 flights
- March 2026: 65.0% from 211 flights
- April 2026: 74.9% from 207 flights
- May 2026: 80.0% from 226 flights
- June 2026: 66.5% from 241 flights
- July 2026: 59.6% from 241 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 67.6% against 70.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,404 CLT → 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