Route profile
IND→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Indianapolis to Washington, 500 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 40% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,225 flights. How this is calculated
IND → DCA arrives on time 80.8% of the time; the return trip, DCA → IND, arrives on time 81.2% of the time.
IND → DCA spends 27.8 minutes on the ground on a 500-mile trip: 18.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IND and 9.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at DCA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IND to DCA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IND to DCA struggles most at 7 PM: 48.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19.7 points behind the 68.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.9 points.
IND to DCA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 79.5% arrive on time, 11 points ahead of the 68.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
IND to DCA holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.1% on time to their 80.4%, a 5.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
August is kinder to IND to DCA than to routes of similar length: 83.5% on time against 78.1%, 5.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
In February, IND to DCA runs 4.6 points below routes of similar length, 77.5% on time to 82.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 4 points.
IND to DCA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 48.9% | routes of similar length | 68.6% | −19.7 pts | 221 here, 84,035 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 79.5% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | +11.0 pts | 448 here, 49,916 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 80.4% | +5.7 pts | 589 here, 167,724 there |
| Month: August | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +5.4 pts | 510 here, 118,749 there |
| Month: February | 77.5% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | −4.6 pts | 445 here, 97,219 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 500 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 → DCA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
IND → DCA cancelled 177 of 6,225 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 35. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 67.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 52 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 177 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.
119 cancellations, 67.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
42 cancellations, 23.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
16 cancellations, 9.0% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
177 coded cancellations were recorded on IND → DCA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
37 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 6,225 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DCA after arriving from IND.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 2.84% of the time and diverts 0.32% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,028 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,225 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IND → DCA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 91.2% of the time, against 61.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.3% on time from 513 flights
- 7 AM: 83.8% on time from 785 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 91.7% on time from 856 flights
- 10 AM: 89.6% on time from 638 flights
- 11 AM: 93.2% on time from 308 flights
- 12 PM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 70.1% on time from 486 flights
- 3 PM: 81.9% on time from 293 flights
- 4 PM: 74.1% on time from 222 flights
- 5 PM: 74.6% on time from 741 flights
- 6 PM: 65.9% on time from 134 flights
- 7 PM: 48.9% on time from 234 flights
- 8 PM: 66.7% on time from 433 flights
- 9 PM: 79.5% on time from 480 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IND → DCA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 IND → DCA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 5,305 | 82.3% | 2.32% | -7 min | 5.1% |
| PSA Airlines | 570 | 71.1% | 8.07% | -5 min | 14.6% |
| American Airlines | 224 | 68.6% | 0.89% | 0 min | 15.9% |
Republic Airways flew 87.0% of the 6,099 flights listed. PSA Airlines cancelled 8.07% of its flights here against 0.89% for American Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 13.7 percentage points more often than American 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
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.0%
- Feb: 77.5%
- Mar: 80.0%
- Apr: 82.7%
- May: 81.0%
- Jun: 78.5%
- Jul: 75.3%
- Aug: 83.5%
- Sep: 84.4%
- Oct: 87.4%
- Nov: 83.9%
- Dec: 74.9%
December is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 12.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.7% from 172 flights
- August 2023: 88.0% from 177 flights
- September 2023: 84.7% from 167 flights
- October 2023: 94.3% from 174 flights
- November 2023: 89.6% from 163 flights
- December 2023: 87.2% from 150 flights
- January 2024: 89.7% from 163 flights
- February 2024: 91.3% from 161 flights
- March 2024: 93.9% from 165 flights
- April 2024: 89.1% from 168 flights
- May 2024: 82.9% from 177 flights
- June 2024: 81.4% from 162 flights
- July 2024: 79.2% from 170 flights
- August 2024: 83.8% from 171 flights
- September 2024: 88.7% from 168 flights
- October 2024: 89.5% from 173 flights
- November 2024: 86.6% from 164 flights
- December 2024: 75.7% from 152 flights
- January 2025: 81.8% from 168 flights
- February 2025: 69.3% from 161 flights
- March 2025: 82.4% from 176 flights
- April 2025: 80.5% from 166 flights
- May 2025: 80.2% from 186 flights
- June 2025: 72.1% from 173 flights
- July 2025: 71.2% from 176 flights
- August 2025: 78.6% from 171 flights
- September 2025: 80.0% from 172 flights
- October 2025: 78.5% from 178 flights
- November 2025: 75.3% from 167 flights
- December 2025: 61.6% from 150 flights
- January 2026: 71.2% from 168 flights
- February 2026: 70.1% from 158 flights
- March 2026: 63.9% from 173 flights
- April 2026: 78.4% from 167 flights
- May 2026: 79.8% from 173 flights
- June 2026: 82.2% from 172 flights
- July 2026: 73.8% from 173 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.6% against 80.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,225 IND → DCA 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