Route profile
CMH→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Columbus to Washington, 299 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 89% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,887 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CMH → IAD arrives on time 87.6% of the time; the return trip, IAD → CMH, arrives on time 83.9% of the time, a 3.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CMH → IAD spends 25.6 minutes on the ground on a 299-mile trip: 16.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CMH and 9.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 95% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, and the worst tenth are only 28 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CMH to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CMH to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 84.0% arrive on time, 13.6 points ahead of the 70.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
CMH to IAD struggles most at 3 PM: 64.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.7 points behind the 75.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
CMH to IAD holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 88.1% on time to their 75.7%, a 12.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
July is kinder to CMH to IAD than to routes of similar length: 85.4% on time against 71.9%, 13.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 15.7 points.
Republic Airways does better on CMH to IAD than on its routes of similar length: 88.7% on time here, 83.8% there, 4.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
CMH to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +13.6 pts | 526 here, 54,810 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 64.5% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −10.7 pts | 138 here, 54,598 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 88.1% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +12.4 pts | 402 here, 136,992 there |
| Month: July | 85.4% | routes of similar length | 71.9% | +13.5 pts | 295 here, 103,040 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 88.7% | routes of similar length | 83.8% | +4.9 pts | 2,375 here, 89,518 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 299 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
20 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 2,887 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from CMH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 28% | High risk |
| 45 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 6.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.5% | 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 1.21% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,849 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 20 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,887 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CMH → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.4% of the time, against 64.7% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 28.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.4% on time from 1,066 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 91.9% on time from 537 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 78.7% on time from 367 flights
- 3 PM: 64.5% on time from 141 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 84.0% on time from 541 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CMH → IAD runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CMH → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CMH → IAD, at 38.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.4% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 64.7%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 2,409 | 88.7% | 1.29% | -9 min | 3.5% |
| United Airlines | 478 | 82.5% | 0.84% | -5 min | 6.5% |
Republic Airways flew 83.4% of the 2,887 flights listed.
Republic Airways arrived on time 6.2 percentage points more often than United 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 4.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.0%
- Feb: 88.7%
- Mar: 84.7%
- Apr: 90.4%
- May: 86.0%
- Jun: 84.8%
- Jul: 85.4%
- Aug: 87.7%
- Sep: 91.6%
- Oct: 89.8%
- Nov: 93.2%
- Dec: 86.2%
January is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 10.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- August 2023: 96.6% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (40)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (54)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (82)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (56)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (41)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (80)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (75)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (59)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (59)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (51)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (43)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2025: 85.1% from 141 flights
- May 2025: 85.0% from 129 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (109)
- September 2025: 91.2% from 136 flights
- October 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (76)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (79)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (85)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (69)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (45)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (3)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.2% against 84.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,887 CMH → IAD 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