Airport month record
INDJAN
Indianapolis International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,690
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at IND, see live FAA status.
IND in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.4% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,690 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,008 at 81.3% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 81.3% on time across 1,008 flights.
Key figures
On time
79.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,516 completed departures
Avg delay
78 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
4.44%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
80.2%
IND across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,690 departures from Indianapolis International in January 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
January next to IND's other months
Against IND's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 80.2%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 4.44% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 69.5% on time and February 83.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,222 | 74.9% | 85 min | 3.01% | C− |
| August 2025 | 3,876 | 81.4% | 78 min | 1.11% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,742 | 85.1% | 68 min | 0.56% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 4,354 | 83.2% | 70 min | 0.57% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,904 | 83.1% | 77 min | 2.84% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,906 | 69.5% | 75 min | 1.59% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,690 | 79.7% | 78 min | 4.44% | B− |
| February 2026 | 3,457 | 83.3% | 61 min | 2.57% | B |
| March 2026 | 4,362 | 76.7% | 87 min | 2.57% | B |
| April 2026 | 4,290 | 83.0% | 65 min | 1.19% | B |
| May 2026 | 4,324 | 82.5% | 62 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 4,249 | 79.9% | 76 min | 1.88% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave IND in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 15 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,005 flights84.4%
- 8am–11am531 flights83.1%
- 11am–2pm730 flights81.7%
- 2pm–5pm610 flights72.8%
- 5pm–8pm674 flights76.2%
- 8pm–5am140 flights69.4%
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 84.4% of the time, against 69.4% for the overnight window. That is 15 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,005 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Thursday is the strongest day at 87.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 68.0%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at IND in January
The three carriers here are closely matched: half a point separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 1,099 | 81.0% | 64 min | 6.01% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,008 | 81.3% | 46 min | 1.49% | B |
| American Airlines | 430 | 81.2% | 151 min | 8.37% | B− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 325 | 85.3% | 74 min | 3.69% | A− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 206 | 58.3% | 143 min | 3.40% | D− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 174 | 75.7% | 55 min | 0.57% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 133 | 80.0% | 45 min | 5.26% | B− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 111 | 76.7% | 106 min | 5.41% | B− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 92 | 85.2% | 50 min | 11.96% | A− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 55 | 77.8% | 62 min | 1.82% | B |
American Airlines cancels 8.4% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of IND in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IND to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 360 | 72.4% | 101 min | 3.06% | C− |
| IND to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 245 | 88.4% | 46 min | 4.90% | A− |
| IND to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 214 | 84.5% | 61 min | 1.87% | B |
| IND to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 184 | 89.5% | 91 min | 6.52% | A− |
| IND to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 183 | 80.1% | 61 min | 6.56% | B− |
| IND to DEN · Denverthin sample | 173 | 81.9% | 41 min | 1.16% | B |
| IND to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 169 | 83.4% | 62 min | 7.10% | B− |
| IND to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 168 | 71.2% | 63 min | 8.93% | C− |
| IND to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 150 | 82.4% | 122 min | 9.33% | B− |
| IND to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 143 | 83.2% | 144 min | 12.59% | B− |
| IND to MIA · Miamithin sample | 122 | 76.7% | 97 min | 4.10% | B− |
| IND to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 119 | 85.3% | 182 min | 2.52% | A |
| IND to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 119 | 80.9% | 71 min | 7.56% | B− |
| IND to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 109 | 63.5% | 43 min | 4.59% | D− |
| IND to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 97 | 77.7% | 46 min | 2.06% | B |
| IND to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 93 | 75.0% | 52 min | 5.38% | B− |
| IND to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 93 | 94.4% | 40 min | 4.30% | A− |
| IND to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 91 | 73.3% | 47 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| IND to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 83 | 55.6% | 133 min | 2.41% | D |
| IND to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 77 | 74.0% | 76 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| IND to AUS · Austinthin sample | 75 | 81.3% | 70 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| IND to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 69 | 78.3% | 36 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| IND to TPA · Tampathin sample | 65 | 72.3% | 43 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| IND to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 62 | 81.7% | 162 min | 3.23% | B− |
| IND to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 62 | 87.9% | 60 min | 6.45% | A− |
Delay causes
What held IND up in January
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 56,000 reported delay minutes.
- 32%Carrier
- 28%Late-arriving aircraft
- 20%National Airspace System
- 20%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 20% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 2.1 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 56,057 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.44%, against 4.71% nationally. That is roughly one flight in 25 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from IND in January
For a January trip through IND: expect 79.7% on time and 4.44% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Indianapolis International (IND), the whole year
- IND in July74.9%
- IND in August81.4%
- IND in September85.1%
- IND in October83.2%
- IND in November83.1%
- IND in December69.5%
- IND in February83.3%
- IND in March76.7%
- IND in April83.0%
- IND in May82.5%
- IND in June79.9%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.