Route profile
IAD→CMH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Columbus, 299 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 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,874 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IAD → CMH arrives on time 83.9% of the time; the return trip, CMH → IAD, arrives on time 87.6% of the time, a 3.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IAD → CMH spends 29.0 minutes on the ground on a 299-mile trip: 20.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAD and 9.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at CMH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IAD to CMH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAD to CMH is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 82.5% arrive on time, 12.1 points ahead of the 70.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
IAD to CMH holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.1% on time to their 77.5%, a 6.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
April is kinder to IAD to CMH than to routes of similar length: 91.1% on time against 80.2%, 10.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
IAD to CMH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 82.5% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +12.1 pts | 895 here, 25,749 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | +6.6 pts | 429 here, 142,050 there |
| Month: April | 91.1% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | +10.9 pts | 282 here, 77,256 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 299 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.
IAD to CMH in context
This route against IAD and CMH as a whole, against similar routes from IAD, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving IAD, IAD to CMH is on time 83.9% of the time, 3 points better than the airport’s other departures at IAD (80.9%, from 164,741 flights).
Arriving at CMH, IAD to CMH is on time 83.9% of the time, 5.6 points better than the airport’s other arrivals at CMH (78.3%, from 128,845 flights).
IAD to CMH cancels 1.15% of its scheduled flights, 0.69 points below the 1.84% on 3 other routes from IAD of similar length (within 15% of 299 miles).
IAD to CMH arrived on time 83.4% of the time in its latest twelve months (August 2025 to July 2026), 6.2 points below the 89.6% of its first twelve (July 2023 to June 2024).
Of the 2,668 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 10 PM is the busiest hour with 911 (34.1%), 82.5% of them on time, and 12 PM the quietest with 442 (16.6%), 86.8% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
31 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 2,874 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CMH after arriving from IAD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 1.15% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,839 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 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,874 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAD → CMH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.7% of the time, against 76.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 15.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 92.7% on time from 605 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 86.8% on time from 442 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 78.3% on time from 710 flights
- 6 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 82.5% on time from 911 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IAD → CMH 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAD → CMH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IAD → CMH, at 37.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.7% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 76.9%.
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 | 2,394 | 83.4% | 1.29% | -9 min | 6.6% |
| United Airlines | 480 | 86.8% | 0.42% | -8 min | 3.8% |
Republic Airways flew 83.3% of the 2,874 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 3.4 percentage points more often than Republic Airways 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 5.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.6%
- Feb: 82.7%
- Mar: 79.7%
- Apr: 91.1%
- May: 77.6%
- Jun: 70.4%
- Jul: 79.6%
- Aug: 84.7%
- Sep: 85.2%
- Oct: 90.7%
- Nov: 92.4%
- Dec: 88.2%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- August 2023: 92.4% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (39)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (54)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (80)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (76)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (56)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (41)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (80)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (75)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (59)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (51)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (42)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (63)
- April 2025: 87.2% from 141 flights
- May 2025: 75.8% from 129 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (109)
- September 2025: 82.4% from 136 flights
- October 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (75)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (85)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (68)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (45)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (4)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.4% against 79.2% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,874 IAD → CMH 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