Route profile
EWR→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Newark to Indianapolis, 645 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 28% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,766 flights. How this is calculated
EWR → IND arrives on time 82.9% of the time; the return trip, IND → EWR, arrives on time 84.7% of the time.
EWR → IND spends 31.2 minutes on the ground on a 645-mile trip: 24.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at EWR and 7.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at IND.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 97% of 5,368 comparable routes.
81.8% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 82.0% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where EWR to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
EWR to IND is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 79.0% arrive on time, 11.9 points ahead of the 67.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.5 points.
EWR to IND holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 82.1% on time to their 76.0%, a 6.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
May is kinder to EWR to IND than to routes of similar length: 83.2% on time against 74.3%, 8.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on EWR to IND than on its routes of similar length: 77.3% on time here, 73.3% there, 4 points apart.
EWR to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 79.0% | routes of similar length | 67.1% | +11.9 pts | 809 here, 136,265 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +6.1 pts | 952 here, 314,358 there |
| Month: May | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +8.9 pts | 476 here, 178,981 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 77.3% | routes of similar length | 73.3% | +4.0 pts | 999 here, 78,875 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 645 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why EWR → IND flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
EWR → IND cancelled 276 of 6,766 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 25. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 58.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 42 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 276 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
160 cancellations, 58.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
105 cancellations, 38.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
11 cancellations, 4.0% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
276 coded cancellations were recorded on EWR → IND; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 13 min early
Percentiles over 6,766 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from EWR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 4.08% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,483 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,766 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
EWR → IND flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 88.8% of the time, against 76.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 12.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.3% on time from 440 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 82.9% on time from 173 flights
- 9 AM: 89.4% on time from 634 flights
- 10 AM: 90.4% on time from 367 flights
- 11 AM: 87.7% on time from 917 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 84.7% on time from 128 flights
- 2 PM: 82.4% on time from 215 flights
- 3 PM: 85.4% on time from 633 flights
- 4 PM: 77.8% on time from 700 flights
- 5 PM: 79.7% on time from 496 flights
- 6 PM: 79.0% on time from 869 flights
- 7 PM: 75.4% on time from 431 flights
- 8 PM: 71.3% on time from 423 flights
- 9 PM: 79.5% on time from 236 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why EWR → IND runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for EWR → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on EWR → IND, at 39.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 88.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 76.2%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 5,617 | 83.8% | 4.11% | -14 min | 6.9% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,044 | 77.3% | 4.31% | -11 min | 9.7% |
Republic Airways flew 84.3% of the 6,661 flights listed.
Republic Airways arrived on time 6.5 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.7%
- Feb: 86.9%
- Mar: 86.8%
- Apr: 85.5%
- May: 83.2%
- Jun: 78.1%
- Jul: 69.0%
- Aug: 81.6%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 87.3%
- Nov: 86.0%
- Dec: 79.3%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 18.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.3% from 208 flights
- August 2023: 88.6% from 213 flights
- September 2023: 84.0% from 203 flights
- October 2023: 93.7% from 206 flights
- November 2023: 94.8% from 172 flights
- December 2023: 92.8% from 152 flights
- January 2024: 87.7% from 167 flights
- February 2024: 95.0% from 164 flights
- March 2024: 88.0% from 184 flights
- April 2024: 82.0% from 176 flights
- May 2024: 82.5% from 193 flights
- June 2024: 77.5% from 203 flights
- July 2024: 69.0% from 201 flights
- August 2024: 73.9% from 177 flights
- September 2024: 91.5% from 188 flights
- October 2024: 90.6% from 233 flights
- November 2024: 84.2% from 209 flights
- December 2024: 77.0% from 188 flights
- January 2025: 88.9% from 179 flights
- February 2025: 79.4% from 168 flights
- March 2025: 93.5% from 173 flights
- April 2025: 80.3% from 150 flights
- May 2025: 70.1% from 121 flights
- June 2025: 74.4% from 137 flights
- July 2025: 71.2% from 180 flights
- August 2025: 80.1% from 195 flights
- September 2025: 86.2% from 199 flights
- October 2025: 76.1% from 187 flights
- November 2025: 80.1% from 205 flights
- December 2025: 71.1% from 207 flights
- January 2026: 83.5% from 184 flights
- February 2026: 86.3% from 152 flights
- March 2026: 79.1% from 182 flights
- April 2026: 93.6% from 173 flights
- May 2026: 91.7% from 181 flights
- June 2026: 81.5% from 176 flights
- July 2026: 74.7% from 180 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.8% against 82.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,766 EWR → IND flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed