Route profile
DCA→JAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Jacksonville, 634 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 24% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,631 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DCA → JAX arrives on time 77.6% of the time; the return trip, JAX → DCA, arrives on time 74.9% of the time, a 2.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DCA → JAX spends 28.1 minutes on the ground on a 634-mile trip: 21.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DCA and 6.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at JAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DCA to JAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DCA to JAX struggles most at 3 PM: 66.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.2 points behind the 73.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
DCA to JAX holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.9% on time to their 79.5%, a 4.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
In February, DCA to JAX runs 7.6 points below routes of similar length, 74.1% on time to 81.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
April is kinder to DCA to JAX than to routes of similar length: 85.4% on time against 79.9%, 5.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.5 points.
PSA Airlines does better on DCA to JAX than on its routes of similar length: 82.4% on time here, 74.8% there, 7.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
DCA to JAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 66.4% | routes of similar length | 73.6% | −7.2 pts | 256 here, 122,576 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 83.9% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | +4.4 pts | 528 here, 256,333 there |
| Month: February | 74.1% | routes of similar length | 81.7% | −7.6 pts | 374 here, 145,951 there |
| Month: April | 85.4% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | +5.5 pts | 377 here, 168,748 there |
| Airline: PSA Airlines | 82.4% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +7.6 pts | 1,251 here, 28,453 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 634 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 → JAX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DCA → JAX cancelled 116 of 4,631 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 40. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 78.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 51 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 116 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.
91 cancellations, 78.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
13 cancellations, 11.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
12 cancellations, 10.3% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
116 coded cancellations were recorded on DCA → JAX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
54 min late
against a median of 8 min early
DCA → JAX has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth are 62 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 4,631 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at JAX after arriving from DCA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.8% | 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 2.50% of the time and diverts 0.17% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,507 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 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,631 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DCA → JAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.1% of the time, against 65.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 84.4% on time from 235 flights
- 7 AM: 90.4% on time from 819 flights
- 8 AM: 84.9% on time from 321 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 76.1% on time from 841 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 76.7% on time from 282 flights
- 2 PM: 77.2% on time from 652 flights
- 3 PM: 66.4% on time from 261 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 63.1% on time from 195 flights
- 8 PM: 66.5% on time from 650 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DCA → JAX 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DCA → JAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DCA → JAX, at 55.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 65.7%.
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 | 2,659 | 73.6% | 1.81% | -5 min | 10.5% |
| PSA Airlines | 1,295 | 82.4% | 3.09% | -11 min | 8.5% |
| Republic Airways | 524 | 83.9% | 3.44% | -9 min | 4.4% |
American Airlines flew 59.4% of the 4,478 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 3.44% of its flights here against 1.81% for American Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 10.3 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 Sunday the least, a gap of 12.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 74.1%
- Mar: 75.7%
- Apr: 85.4%
- May: 78.4%
- Jun: 75.7%
- Jul: 65.5%
- Aug: 78.7%
- Sep: 77.1%
- Oct: 84.1%
- Nov: 83.9%
- Dec: 76.7%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 19.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- August 2023: 83.6% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2023: 80.6% from 124 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (114)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2024: 84.7% from 125 flights
- March 2024: 77.9% from 145 flights
- April 2024: 83.4% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 78.8% from 154 flights
- June 2024: 77.5% from 120 flights
- July 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2024: 91.7% from 120 flights
- November 2024: 94.9% from 137 flights
- December 2024: 81.4% from 145 flights
- January 2025: 78.4% from 150 flights
- February 2025: 68.7% from 136 flights
- March 2025: 85.6% from 150 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2025: 80.0% from 120 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2025: 65.9% from 131 flights
- January 2026: 84.3% from 146 flights
- February 2026: 68.9% from 120 flights
- March 2026: 61.2% from 124 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (118)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.4% against 80.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,631 DCA → JAX 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