DCA to ACK flight delays
Washington, VA (DCA) Nantucket, MA (ACK) · 405 miles
562 flights · July 2024 – July 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
80.67%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
3.02%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
52 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
11 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
The season swings this route hard. In September it ran 35.3 points more punctual than in September — 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.
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 3.02% 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.
The route has been getting worse. The later months run 8.6 points less punctual than the earlier ones. A drift of that size is rarely weather; it is more often an airline adding frequencies faster than the airports can absorb them.
The two directions do not behave alike. ACK to DCA arrives on time 5.9 points less often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over July 2024 – July 2026, Republic Airways arrived on time most often on DCA to ACK. JetBlue Airways was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in August and worst in June.
Every airline on DCA to ACK
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 320 | 81.49% | 2.81% | 43 min | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 242 | 79.57% | 3.31% | 63 min | C |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
ACK to DCA Nantucket back to Washington 74.77% on time DOther routes from Washington
Common questions
Are flights from Washington to Nantucket usually delayed?
80.67% of flights on the DCA to ACK route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Washington to Nantucket?
Republic Airways, at 81.49% on time across 320 flights. The least punctual on the route was JetBlue Airways at 79.57%.
How often are DCA to ACK flights cancelled?
3.02% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 30 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Washington to Nantucket?
September, when 97.1% of flights arrived on time. The worst was September at 61.8%.
When DCA to ACK flights are late, how late are they?
About 52 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 DCA to ACK during July 2024 – July 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 →