Route profile
DSM→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Des Moines to Washington. · 897 miles
Right now
Current conditions at both ends of this route.
FlyerIntel does not currently have live operational data for this airport.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor. FAA operational data — ground stops, ground delay programs and closures — is not currently available to FlyerIntel.
Airport conditions describe the airfield, not any individual flight. An airport operating normally is not a guarantee that a specific flight will depart on time.
Route reliability
July 2023 – June 2026
Better than 14% of comparable major US routes (4,577 compared)
Calculated from 2,125 flights. How this is calculated
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – June 2026
Best time to fly
On-time arrival rate by scheduled local departure time.
DSM → DCA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.1% of the time, against 70.2% for 3–6 PM departures — a gap of 13.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Buckets with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Airlines on this route
Performance by the carrier that actually operated the flight.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 1,491 | 80.1% | 4.56% | -10 min | 7.6% |
| Republic Airways | 515 | 76.4% | 3.88% | -4 min | 7.2% |
PSA Airlines arrived on time 3.7 percentage points more often than Republic Airways on this route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Carriers with fewer than 200 flights on this route are not listed.
Individual flights on this route
The same route is not equally reliable at every hour. These are the flight numbers with enough operating history to judge separately.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Flight numbers with fewer than 270 operations on this route, or no longer scheduled, are not listed.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.
By month
January is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 16.7 percentage points.
Historical trend
On-time arrival rate by month.
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-07 to 2026-06), on-time arrivals averaged 77.8% against 76.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026
Data and methodology
All figures on this page are calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,125 DSM → DCA flight records published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – June 2026. A flight is counted as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time, following BTS methodology. Cancelled and diverted flights have no arrival time and are excluded from on-time rates rather than counted as late.