ILM to DCA flight delays
Wilmington, NC (ILM) Washington, VA (DCA) · 320 miles
881 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
67.98%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
6.7%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
85 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
28 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: 6.7% 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 season swings this route hard. In September it ran 32.4 points more punctual than in July — 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. ILM as a whole runs 13.4 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.
The two directions do not behave alike. DCA to ILM arrives on time 5.1 points more 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 January 2025 – August 2026, PSA Airlines arrived on time most often on ILM to DCA. Flights ran closest to schedule in September and worst in July.
Every airline on ILM 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 | 808 | 67.11% | 6.93% | 85 min | F |
| Republic Airways | 69 | 75.76% | 4.35% | 85 min | — |
| American Airlines | 4 | 100% | 0% | — | — |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
DCA to ILM Washington back to Wilmington 73.12% on time FCommon questions
Are flights from Wilmington to Washington usually delayed?
67.98% of flights on the ILM 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 airlines fly from Wilmington to Washington?
Only PSA Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 808 flights and 67.11% arriving on time.
How often are ILM to DCA flights cancelled?
6.7% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 67 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Wilmington to Washington?
September, when 83% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 50.6%.
When ILM to DCA flights are late, how late are they?
About 85 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 ILM 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 →