Route profile
DCA→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Pittsburgh, 204 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 29% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,880 flights. How this is calculated
DCA → PIT arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, PIT → DCA, arrives on time 78.1% of the time.
DCA → PIT spends 28.7 minutes on the ground on a 204-mile trip: 22.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DCA and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 92% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Envoy Air arrived on time 83.5% of the time, against 64.6% for American Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DCA to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DCA to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 83.8% arrive on time, 12.1 points ahead of the 71.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
In February, DCA to PIT runs 8.8 points below routes of similar length, 72.5% on time to 81.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
September is kinder to DCA to PIT than to routes of similar length: 89.0% on time against 81.0%, 8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
Republic Airways does better on DCA to PIT than on its routes of similar length: 82.0% on time here, 79.5% there, 2.5 points apart.
DCA to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 83.8% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | +12.1 pts | 671 here, 30,375 there |
| Month: February | 72.5% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | −8.8 pts | 357 here, 42,496 there |
| Month: September | 89.0% | routes of similar length | 81.0% | +8.0 pts | 410 here, 48,333 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 82.0% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | +2.5 pts | 2,294 here, 128,999 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 204 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 → PIT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DCA → PIT cancelled 142 of 4,880 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 34. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 61.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 56 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 142 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.
87 cancellations, 61.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
35 cancellations, 24.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
20 cancellations, 14.1% 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.
142 coded cancellations were recorded on DCA → PIT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
48 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 4,880 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from DCA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | 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 2.91% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,734 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,880 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DCA → PIT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.1% of the time, against 73.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 12.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 90.3% on time from 121 flights
- 8 AM: 84.4% on time from 618 flights
- 9 AM: 71.4% on time from 120 flights
- 10 AM: 82.4% on time from 313 flights
- 11 AM: 84.3% on time from 261 flights
- 12 PM: 80.8% on time from 146 flights
- 1 PM: 82.7% on time from 188 flights
- 2 PM: 79.1% on time from 134 flights
- 3 PM: 83.8% on time from 678 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 67.8% on time from 562 flights
- 6 PM: 61.1% on time from 167 flights
- 7 PM: 77.1% on time from 368 flights
- 8 PM: 76.7% on time from 272 flights
- 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 79.4% on time from 660 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DCA → PIT 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 → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DCA → PIT, at 52.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 73.8%.
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 | 2,360 | 82.0% | 2.67% | -11 min | 6.3% |
| PSA Airlines | 1,452 | 77.2% | 3.79% | -7 min | 8.0% |
| Envoy Air | 544 | 83.5% | 1.65% | -8 min | 4.3% |
| American Airlines | 524 | 64.6% | 2.86% | -4 min | 18.5% |
Republic Airways flew 48.4% of the 4,880 flights listed. PSA Airlines cancelled 3.79% of its flights here against 1.65% for Envoy Air.
Envoy Air arrived on time 18.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| YX4763 Republic Airways | 10:00 PM | 758 | 75.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.6%
- Feb: 72.5%
- Mar: 77.6%
- Apr: 82.4%
- May: 79.0%
- Jun: 69.9%
- Jul: 70.0%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 89.0%
- Oct: 87.0%
- Nov: 85.0%
- Dec: 78.4%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 19.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 71.7% from 173 flights
- August 2023: 82.7% from 176 flights
- September 2023: 85.4% from 161 flights
- October 2023: 93.1% from 173 flights
- November 2023: 93.0% from 142 flights
- December 2023: 88.4% from 121 flights
- January 2024: 75.0% from 135 flights
- February 2024: 85.7% from 140 flights
- March 2024: 83.8% from 148 flights
- April 2024: 85.0% from 142 flights
- May 2024: 76.4% from 124 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2024: 68.6% from 120 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- September 2024: 92.5% from 134 flights
- October 2024: 90.8% from 142 flights
- November 2024: 83.8% from 136 flights
- December 2024: 76.4% from 124 flights
- January 2025: 79.5% from 136 flights
- February 2025: 64.3% from 130 flights
- March 2025: 77.5% from 140 flights
- April 2025: 80.7% from 145 flights
- May 2025: 80.1% from 146 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- August 2025: 80.6% from 132 flights
- September 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- October 2025: 75.4% from 139 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- May 2026: 80.3% from 123 flights
- June 2026: 67.8% from 129 flights
- July 2026: too few flights to score (115)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.3% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,880 DCA → PIT 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