Route profile
IND→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Indianapolis to Washington, 476 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 93% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,644 flights. How this is calculated
IND → IAD arrives on time 88.8% of the time; the return trip, IAD → IND, arrives on time 86.4% of the time, a 2.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IND → IAD spends 25.8 minutes on the ground on a 476-mile trip: 15.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IND and 10.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 98% of 4,467 comparable routes.
90.1% on time on the best day (Saturday) against 86.7% on the worst (Sunday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where IND to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IND to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 84.0% arrive on time, 16.1 points ahead of the 67.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
IND to IAD holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 86.7% on time to their 74.8%, a 11.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
July is kinder to IND to IAD than to routes of similar length: 83.1% on time against 69.3%, 13.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
Republic Airways does better on IND to IAD than on its routes of similar length: 88.7% on time here, 82.8% there, 5.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
IND to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | +16.1 pts | 752 here, 95,274 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +11.9 pts | 520 here, 234,971 there |
| Month: July | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 69.3% | +13.8 pts | 408 here, 176,627 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 88.7% | routes of similar length | 82.8% | +5.9 pts | 3,513 here, 155,069 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 476 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
17 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 3,644 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from IND.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 6.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.0% | 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 1.29% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,593 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 17 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,644 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IND → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 96.2% of the time, against 83.4% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 12.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 96.2% on time from 613 flights
- 6 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 93.0% on time from 258 flights
- 10 AM: 94.4% on time from 794 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 82.9% on time from 1,112 flights
- 3 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 84.0% on time from 777 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IND → IAD 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IND → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IND → IAD, at 38.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 96.2% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 83.4%.
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 | 3,564 | 88.7% | 1.32% | -9 min | 3.9% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
YX3709 (10:11 AM) arrived on time 94.1% of the time, 11.4 points more often than YX3530 (2:40 PM) at 82.7%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 3.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.4%
- Feb: 93.3%
- Mar: 87.1%
- Apr: 93.4%
- May: 86.8%
- Jun: 84.5%
- Jul: 83.1%
- Aug: 88.6%
- Sep: 91.9%
- Oct: 93.3%
- Nov: 93.6%
- Dec: 83.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 10.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 82.2% from 120 flights
- August 2023: 89.4% from 124 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- June 2024: 89.1% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 91.6% from 124 flights
- August 2024: 89.0% from 124 flights
- September 2024: 94.2% from 120 flights
- October 2024: 95.9% from 122 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (63)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (83)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (89)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.9% against 88.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,644 IND → IAD 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