Airport month record

INDOCT

Indianapolis International in October 2025

Departures: 4,354
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 11

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at IND, see live FAA status.

IND in October lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,354 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 428 at 93.0% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 93.0% on time across 428 flights.

On time

83.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,322 completed departures

Avg delay

70 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.57%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

80.2%

IND across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,354 departures from Indianapolis International in October 2025. 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

October next to IND's other months

Against IND's own year, October ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 80.2%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for IND in October, at 0.57% against 1.91% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.1% on time and November 83.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

IND month by month
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 (this page)	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	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,073 flights94.1%
8am–11am711 flights92.8%
11am–2pm643 flights85.4%
2pm–5pm887 flights76.8%
5pm–8pm787 flights69.6%
8pm–5am253 flights68.5%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.1% of the time, against 68.5% for the overnight window. That is 26 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 1,073 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 86.5% on time and Monday the weakest at 76.8%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at IND in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 93.0% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 79.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,160 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at IND in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	1,160	79.8%	50 min	0.26%	B+
Republic Airways	1,114	81.6%	59 min	1.26%	B
American Airlines	633	85.4%	116 min	0.47%	A+
Delta Air Lines	428	93.0%	70 min	0.00%	A+
United Airlinesthin sample	310	82.3%	44 min	0.00%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	202	87.0%	98 min	0.99%	A+
Allegiant Airthin sample	171	83.6%	60 min	0.00%	B+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	97	92.7%	83 min	0.00%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	91	76.7%	201 min	1.10%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	85	74.1%	37 min	0.00%	C+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	48	87.0%	44 min	4.17%	A−

The spread between Delta and Southwest is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of IND in October

Routes from IND in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
IND to ORD · Chicago	413	78.9%	41 min	0.00%	B+
IND to ATL · Atlantathin sample	295	92.2%	47 min	0.34%	A+
IND to MCO · Orlandothin sample	248	79.6%	107 min	0.81%	B+
IND to DEN · Denverthin sample	226	77.0%	43 min	0.00%	B+
IND to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	225	86.8%	68 min	2.22%	A
IND to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	208	89.3%	112 min	0.96%	A+
IND to CLT · Charlottethin sample	188	87.8%	150 min	0.00%	A+
IND to EWR · Newarkthin sample	187	87.0%	76 min	1.60%	A
IND to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	178	78.5%	45 min	0.56%	B+
IND to BOS · Bostonthin sample	173	63.5%	79 min	1.73%	D
IND to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	166	77.9%	154 min	0.60%	B+
IND to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	147	78.1%	63 min	0.68%	B+
IND to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	141	78.0%	49 min	0.00%	B+
IND to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	119	84.0%	43 min	0.00%	B+
IND to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	116	93.1%	141 min	0.00%	A+
IND to AUS · Austinthin sample	100	83.8%	49 min	0.00%	B+
IND to TPA · Tampathin sample	99	76.8%	56 min	0.00%	B+
IND to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	95	82.8%	63 min	2.11%	B
IND to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	86	87.2%	34 min	0.00%	A+
IND to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	80	92.5%	85 min	0.00%	A+
IND to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	66	87.9%	40 min	0.00%	A+
IND to IAH · Houstonthin sample	63	85.7%	62 min	0.00%	A+
IND to MDW · Chicagothin sample	62	77.4%	36 min	0.00%	B+
IND to DAL · Dallasthin sample	61	81.0%	74 min	3.28%	B−
IND to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	58	87.9%	75 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held IND up in October

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 51,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
38%
National Airspace System
30%
Carrier
28%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

38% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 51,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 50,830 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.57%, below the national 0.53% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

5.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 October

For a October trip through IND: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 83.2% on time with 0.57% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Indianapolis International (IND), the whole year
IND in July74.9%
IND in August81.4%
IND in September85.1%
IND in November83.1%
IND in December69.5%
IND in January79.7%
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.

Key figures