The flight time from Detroit to Washington is 1 hour, 27 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DTW Detroit, MI 4 minutes early.
16 minutes taxiing out
1 hour, 3 minutes in the air
5 minutes taxiing in
Arrives DCA Washington, DC 10 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

American
87%
Delta
83%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Detroit to Washington is 1 hour, 27 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 3 minutes.

The flight distance from Detroit to Washington is 405 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Washington to Detroit
1 hour, 33 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Delta
1h 24m
American
1h 30m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 30m1h1h 30m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

53

Distance

405 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun02468

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Delta
33
American
19

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Detroit from Washington by plane?

The distance from Detroit to Washington by plane is 405 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Detroit to Washington?

The flight time from Detroit to Washington is 1 hour, 27 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 3 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Delta being the fastest taking 1 hour, 24 minutes, and American the slowest taking 1 hour, 30 minutes.

What airlines fly from Detroit to Washington?

American and Delta are the airlines with direct flights from Detroit to Washington.

Does Southwest fly from Detroit to Washington?

Southwest does not fly from Detroit (DTW) to Washington (DCA). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Detroit 4 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 16 minutes
In the Air 63 minutes
Taxiing In 5 minutes
Arrives Washington 10 minutes early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Detroit to Washington, American is 87% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 87% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
American 87% 11% 2%
Delta 83% 15% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Detroit and Washington, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
Delta 15 62 4 84
American 17 65 5 90

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
10am 1.14
8pm 0.06
4pm 0.07
3pm 0.78
12pm 0.24
8am 0.01
5pm 1.27
2pm 0.13
5am 0.21
11am 0.43
1pm 0.01
6am 0.65
9am 0.14
7am 1.03
9pm 0.92
6pm 0.32

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit to Washington that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 227
February 220
March 240
April 227
May 240
June 231
July 231
August 240
September 230
October 233
November 221
December 217

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit to Washington that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 7.88
Tuesday 7.92
Wednesday 7.9
Thursday 7.81
Friday 7.79
Saturday 6.04
Sunday 7.67

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
Delta 1
American 0

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
10am 14 62 4 83
8pm 15 60 4 80
4pm 14 61 5 82
3pm 15 63 5 88
12pm 18 65 9 95
8am 28 65 5 95
5pm 16 67 5 92
2pm 16 67 4 89
5am 19 62 5 89
11am 16 65 5 87
1pm 15 60 10 86
6am 18 64 6 91
9am 17 64 4 85
7am 15 63 5 88
9pm 15 60 4 82
6pm 16 62 5 87
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.