Great-circle route DCA ↔ HOU. Faint dots are other airports, for geographic context. Download this map — free to reuse with a link back to this page.
Frequencies below are per direction, from our most recent schedule sample.
| Direction | Frequency | Days | Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| DCA → HOU Washington to Houston |
21/wk | Daily | Southwest Airlines |
| HOU → DCA Houston to Washington |
21/wk | Daily | Southwest Airlines |
Where a direction shows “—” we track it as an operating nonstop but hold no schedule sample for it — we would rather show nothing than guess.
In 2025, airlines reported 227,865 passengers on 2,064 flights between DCA and HOU — about 625 a day — filling 70% of the 323,632 seats flown. Southwest Airlines Co. carried the most passengers (100%).
Source: US DOT T-100 segment reports — actual airline-reported traffic, scheduled service only, both directions combined. Cargo and charter flights excluded.
Southwest Airlines is the only airline flying the DCA–HOU nonstop.
Recent scheduled departures on this route have used the Boeing 737.
Aircraft assignments change by season and by time of day.
The distance between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and William P Hobby Airport is 1,217 miles, or 1,959 kilometres.
| Great-circle distance | 1,217 mi |
| Kilometres | 1,959 km |
| Nautical miles | 1,058 nmi |
Measured airport to airport. The actual track is longer — aircraft follow airways, avoid restricted airspace and route around weather.
Yes. Southwest Airlines flies the route nonstop, with about 42 departures a week across both directions. The route is in our live nonstop dataset, last seeded 2026-07-07.
About 2h 58m in the air. That is a great-circle estimate from the 1,217-mile distance, not a scheduled block time — an airline's published time will differ by roughly 15 to 45 minutes depending on routing, winds and taxi.
About 21 a week from Washington to Houston and 21 a week from Houston to Washington, from our most recent schedule sample.
Southwest Airlines.
In 2025, airlines reported 227,865 passengers on 2,064 scheduled flights between DCA and HOU — about 625 a day — filling 70% of the seats flown. Source: US DOT T-100 segment reports, both directions combined.
Recent scheduled departures have used the Boeing 737. Assignments change by season and by time of day.
