Route profile
OMA→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Omaha to Washington, 1,012 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 82% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,989 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
OMA → DCA arrives on time 83.9% of the time; the return trip, DCA → OMA, arrives on time 78.4% of the time, a 5.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
OMA → DCA spends 19.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,012-mile trip: 12.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at OMA and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at DCA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 100% of 4,467 comparable routes.
84.9% on time on the best day (Sunday) against 82.6% on the worst (Monday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where OMA to DCA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
OMA to DCA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 11 AM: 86.4% arrive on time, 6.2 points ahead of the 80.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
OMA to DCA holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 84.9% on time to their 73.5%, a 11.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
August is kinder to OMA to DCA than to routes of similar length: 90.2% on time against 74.3%, 15.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on OMA to DCA than on its routes of similar length: 81.5% on time here, 75.6% there, 5.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
OMA to DCA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | +6.2 pts | 1,095 here, 192,175 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 84.9% | routes of similar length | 73.5% | +11.4 pts | 311 here, 436,500 there |
| Month: August | 90.2% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +15.9 pts | 163 here, 236,908 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +5.9 pts | 1,038 here, 694,238 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 1,012 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
29 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 1,989 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DCA after arriving from OMA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.5% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 1.21% of the time and diverts 0.65% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,952 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,989 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why OMA → DCA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 OMA → DCA. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,061 | 81.5% | 1.23% | -7 min | 4.7% |
| Republic Airways | 928 | 86.7% | 1.19% | -13 min | 5.3% |
Southwest Airlines flew 53.3% of the 1,989 flights listed.
Republic Airways arrived on time 5.2 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Sunday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 2.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.4%
- Feb: 76.8%
- Mar: 81.7%
- Apr: 91.7%
- May: 83.1%
- Jun: 79.3%
- Jul: 79.3%
- Aug: 90.2%
- Sep: 86.1%
- Oct: 87.7%
- Nov: 88.4%
- Dec: 81.4%
February is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 14.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.2% against 85.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,989 OMA → DCA 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