CAE to DCA flight delays
Columbia, SC (CAE) Washington, VA (DCA) · 408 miles
1,093 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
72.88%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
5.67%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
98 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
27 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 5.67% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Republic Airways arrived on time 11.3 points more often than PSA Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In September it ran 26.2 points more punctual than in February — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
This route does worse than its own airport. CAE as a whole runs 7.4 points more punctual than these flights, which points at something specific to the route — the time of day it is scheduled, or the aircraft that feed it — rather than the airport.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, Republic Airways arrived on time most often on CAE to DCA. PSA Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in September and worst in February.
Every airline on CAE to DCA
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 927 | 70.88% | 6.36% | 102 min | F |
| Republic Airways | 138 | 82.22% | 2.17% | 54 min | C |
| Envoy Air | 28 | 89.29% | 0% | 54 min | — |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
DCA to CAE Washington back to Columbia 68.87% on time FCommon questions
Are flights from Columbia to Washington usually delayed?
72.88% of flights on the CAE to DCA route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Columbia to Washington?
Republic Airways, at 82.22% on time across 138 flights. The least punctual on the route was PSA Airlines at 70.88%.
How often are CAE to DCA flights cancelled?
5.67% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 57 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Columbia to Washington?
September, when 83% of flights arrived on time. The worst was February at 56.8%.
When CAE to DCA flights are late, how late are they?
About 98 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on CAE to DCA during January 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →