Route profile
IND→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Indianapolis to Charlotte, 427 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 36% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,838 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IND → CLT arrives on time 79.3% of the time; the return trip, CLT → IND, arrives on time 73.0% of the time, a 6.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IND → CLT spends 31.5 minutes on the ground on a 427-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IND and 14.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IND to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IND to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 86.0% arrive on time, 10.3 points ahead of the 75.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.4 points.
IND to CLT struggles most at 7 PM: 61.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.8 points behind the 69.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
IND to CLT holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 79.8% on time to their 75.6%, a 4.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
Saturday is the day IND to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.6% on time where they average 80.6%, 4 points lower.
American Airlines does better on IND to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 79.2% on time here, 74.3% there, 4.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
IND to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +10.3 pts | 136 here, 91,165 there |
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 61.2% | routes of similar length | 69.0% | −7.8 pts | 503 here, 95,962 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 79.8% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +4.2 pts | 847 here, 245,192 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 76.6% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −4.0 pts | 738 here, 190,721 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 79.2% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +4.9 pts | 5,638 here, 164,951 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 427 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 IND → CLT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
IND → CLT cancelled 89 of 5,838 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 66. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 85.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 77 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 89 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.
76 cancellations, 85.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
13 cancellations, 14.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
89 coded cancellations were recorded on IND → CLT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 5,838 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from IND.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | 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 1.52% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,744 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,838 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IND → CLT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 89.4% of the time, against 66.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 88.5% on time from 1,041 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 83.2% on time from 995 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 91.9% on time from 149 flights
- 11 AM: 88.2% on time from 294 flights
- 12 PM: 80.5% on time from 597 flights
- 1 PM: 82.1% on time from 176 flights
- 2 PM: 86.0% on time from 137 flights
- 3 PM: 71.0% on time from 854 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 69.3% on time from 299 flights
- 6 PM: 69.8% on time from 279 flights
- 7 PM: 61.2% on time from 520 flights
- 8 PM: 76.8% on time from 151 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IND → CLT runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow 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 IND → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IND → CLT, at 43.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 89.4% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,725 | 79.2% | 1.43% | -5 min | 7.7% |
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 Sunday the least, a gap of 8.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.7%
- Feb: 82.5%
- Mar: 81.4%
- Apr: 82.1%
- May: 78.0%
- Jun: 77.3%
- Jul: 71.8%
- Aug: 74.0%
- Sep: 80.7%
- Oct: 84.5%
- Nov: 85.9%
- Dec: 77.2%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 14.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.1% from 149 flights
- August 2023: 74.2% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 78.9% from 134 flights
- October 2023: 78.7% from 150 flights
- November 2023: 82.5% from 155 flights
- December 2023: 83.8% from 148 flights
- January 2024: 75.0% from 148 flights
- February 2024: 84.6% from 143 flights
- March 2024: 77.4% from 155 flights
- April 2024: 78.5% from 144 flights
- May 2024: 74.2% from 179 flights
- June 2024: 77.8% from 154 flights
- July 2024: 54.5% from 153 flights
- August 2024: 74.0% from 176 flights
- September 2024: 75.8% from 153 flights
- October 2024: 86.0% from 172 flights
- November 2024: 87.6% from 137 flights
- December 2024: 79.3% from 150 flights
- January 2025: 82.1% from 156 flights
- February 2025: 80.9% from 140 flights
- March 2025: 81.2% from 155 flights
- April 2025: 83.4% from 149 flights
- May 2025: 76.8% from 157 flights
- June 2025: 71.9% from 182 flights
- July 2025: 76.4% from 187 flights
- August 2025: 73.8% from 143 flights
- September 2025: 87.1% from 148 flights
- October 2025: 87.8% from 188 flights
- November 2025: 87.6% from 171 flights
- December 2025: 69.3% from 164 flights
- January 2026: 82.4% from 150 flights
- February 2026: 81.9% from 142 flights
- March 2026: 85.3% from 172 flights
- April 2026: 84.0% from 163 flights
- May 2026: 83.1% from 172 flights
- June 2026: 82.5% from 170 flights
- July 2026: 85.4% from 175 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.7% against 79.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,838 IND → CLT 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