DCA → CLT Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DCANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 13:52 UTC

Washington airport profile →

Destination · CLTNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 13:52 UTC

Charlotte airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

54/ 100Fair

Better than 21% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 9,393 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time

On-time arrivals

77.9%

7,149 of 9,174

Cancellation rate

2.23%

209 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-8 min

Average 11.3 min

Severe delays

9.5%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

95 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

9,393

2 carriers

DCA → CLT arrives on time 77.9% of the time; the return trip, CLT → DCA, arrives on time 69.5% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

DCA → CLT spends 33.2 minutes on the ground on a 331-mile trip: 22.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DCA and 10.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What sets this route apart

Where DCA to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.

DCA to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 80.3% arrive on time, 11.1 points ahead of the 69.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.

DCA to CLT struggles most at 5 PM: 63.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.3 points behind the 73.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.

Wednesday is the day DCA to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 77.6% on time where they average 83.0%, 5.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.2 points.

In August, DCA to CLT runs 6 points below routes of similar length, 74.0% on time to 80.0%.

American Airlines does better on DCA to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 78.7% on time here, 76.7% there, 2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.

DCA to CLT against comparable routes

July 2023 – July 2026

Where DCA to CLT differs most from comparable routes, with the group each figure is compared with and the flights behind it
Measure	This route	Compared with	Them	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 10 PM departures	80.3%	routes of similar length	69.2%	+11.1 pts	137 here, 28,899 there
Hour: 5 PM departures	63.9%	routes of similar length	73.2%	−9.3 pts	1,055 here, 69,341 there
Weekday: Wednesday	77.6%	routes of similar length	83.0%	−5.4 pts	1,309 here, 152,197 there
Month: August	74.0%	routes of similar length	80.0%	−6.0 pts	751 here, 91,514 there
Airline: American Airlines	78.7%	routes of similar length	76.7%	+2.0 pts	7,615 here, 135,197 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 DCA → CLT flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DCA → CLT cancelled 209 of 9,393 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 45. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 80.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 56 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather80.4%

Airline12.4%

Air traffic7.2%

Security0.0%

Of 209 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 56

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

168 cancellations, 80.4% of the total.

The airline1 in 361

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

26 cancellations, 12.4% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 626

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

15 cancellations, 7.2% of the total.

Security—

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.

209 coded cancellations were recorded on DCA → CLT; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

56 min late

against a median of 8 min early

Arrived an hour or more late9.5%

Typical delay when late95 min

Cancelled2.23%

Landed somewhere else0.11%

DCA → CLT has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth are 64 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 9,393 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at CLT after arriving from DCA.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DCA → CLT arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	36%	Likely to miss
45 min	21%	High risk
60 min	15%	High risk
90 min	9.5%	Some risk
120 min	6.4%	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 2.23% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 9,174 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 56 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,393 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DCA → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.7% of the time, against 64.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.3 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DCA).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 9.6 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.4 points.

On-time arrival rate for DCA to CLT by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures after 8 PM (194 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for DCA to CLT. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	95.2% on time149 flights	88.7% on time134 flights	90.7% on time147 flights	90.1% on time145 flights	88.0% on time151 flights	92.5% on time149 flights	93.9% on time151 flights
6 AM–7 AM	90.4% on time161 flights	90.7% on time155 flights	86.8% on time155 flights	85.9% on time159 flights	84.3% on time158 flights	88.6% on time152 flights	87.0% on time160 flights
7 AM–8 AM	6 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	10 flights, too few to score	7 flights, too few to score	6 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
8 AM–9 AM	82.1% on time152 flights	83.2% on time152 flights	84.7% on time153 flights	78.8% on time155 flights	80.0% on time152 flights	80.5% on time160 flights	82.5% on time161 flights
9 AM–10 AM	20 flights, too few to score	11 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	8 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	116 flights, too few to score	89.9% on time123 flights	116 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	85.5% on time126 flights	90.1% on time124 flights
11 AM–12 PM	63 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	67 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	64 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	64 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	71.4% on time155 flights	78.7% on time151 flights	74.7% on time154 flights	71.8% on time151 flights	77.0% on time154 flights	83.9% on time156 flights	71.6% on time151 flights
2 PM–3 PM	7 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	6 flights, too few to score	4 flights, too few to score	6 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	114 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	106 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	67.5% on time159 flights	64.5% on time159 flights	65.8% on time158 flights	61.1% on time154 flights	54.8% on time159 flights	71.4% on time145 flights	62.7% on time156 flights
6 PM–7 PM	2 flights, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score	1 flight, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	66.9% on time157 flights	67.6% on time152 flights	65.5% on time152 flights	58.4% on time153 flights	59.3% on time155 flights	73.6% on time144 flights	56.8% on time155 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM86.7%

9 AM–12 PM84.0%

12–3 PM75.5%

3–6 PM68.1%

6–9 PM64.4%

9 PM–5 AM80.4%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why DCA → CLT runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft53.6%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline27.2%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control13.7%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather5.2%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DCA → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DCA → CLT, at 53.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.4%.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
American Airlines	7,810	78.7%	2.39%	-9 min	9.3%
PSA Airlines	1,583	74.0%	1.39%	-2 min	10.5%

American Airlines flew 83.1% of the 9,393 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.39% of its flights here against 1.39% for PSA Airlines.

American Airlines arrived on time 4.7 percentage points more often than PSA Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA1518 American Airlines	8:30 AM	629	85.7%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.9%

Tue80.1%

Wed77.6%

Thu76.0%

Fri74.0%

Sat81.9%

Sun77.0%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 16.3 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.6% against 77.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,393 DCA → CLT 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

DCA airport CLT airport Return direction CLT → DCA

DCA→CLT

Right now

Route reliability

What sets this route apart

DCA to CLT against comparable routes

Why DCA → CLT flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why DCA → CLT runs late

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology