Route profile
DTW→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Washington, 383 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 40% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,886 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DTW → IAD arrives on time 78.3% of the time; the return trip, IAD → DTW, arrives on time 80.6% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → IAD spends 27.0 minutes on the ground on a 383-mile trip: 20.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 6.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
89.5% on time in a typical October, against 62.0% in January.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 82.6% arrive on time, 12.9 points ahead of the 69.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
DTW to IAD struggles most at 2 PM: 71.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.1 points behind the 76.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
In January, DTW to IAD runs 19.1 points below routes of similar length, 62.0% on time to 81.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 17.1 points.
October is kinder to DTW to IAD than to routes of similar length: 89.5% on time against 82.5%, 7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
SkyWest Airlines’ flights on DTW to IAD arrive on time 75.5% of the time, 4.5 points below the 80.0% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
DTW to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +12.9 pts | 178 here, 93,883 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 71.3% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −5.1 pts | 415 here, 82,760 there |
| Month: January | 62.0% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | −19.1 pts | 284 here, 113,637 there |
| Month: October | 89.5% | routes of similar length | 82.5% | +7.0 pts | 325 here, 136,250 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 75.5% | routes of similar length | 80.0% | −4.5 pts | 2,735 here, 150,520 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 383 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
54 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,886 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.9% | 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 0.75% 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 3,853 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 3,886 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.4% of the time, against 71.7% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 16.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 87.1% on time from 426 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 80.8% on time from 827 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 71.3% on time from 416 flights
- 3 PM: 71.5% on time from 605 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 82.6% on time from 182 flights
- 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 75.8% on time from 1,016 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → IAD runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
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
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DTW → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,758 | 75.5% | 0.76% | -3 min | 10.9% |
| Delta Air Lines | 454 | 83.6% | 0.66% | -8 min | 5.8% |
| Republic Airways | 395 | 86.6% | 1.27% | -10 min | 4.9% |
| Endeavor Air | 202 | 83.6% | 0.00% | -7 min | 4.0% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 72.4% of the 3,809 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 1.27% of its flights here against 0.00% for Endeavor Air.
Republic Airways arrived on time 11.1 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 62.0%
- Feb: 75.5%
- Mar: 76.1%
- Apr: 83.9%
- May: 82.1%
- Jun: 80.2%
- Jul: 75.3%
- Aug: 73.7%
- Sep: 86.4%
- Oct: 89.5%
- Nov: 76.1%
- Dec: 76.2%
January is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 27.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2023: 83.1% from 121 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (111)
- October 2023: 92.6% from 121 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (102)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- May 2024: 81.7% from 120 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- May 2025: 81.1% from 132 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (79)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (35)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (75)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: 62.4% from 128 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- May 2026: 83.3% from 145 flights
- June 2026: 85.7% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 78.7% from 123 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.3% against 76.1% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,886 DTW → 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