Route profile
IND→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Indianapolis to Phoenix, 1,488 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 74% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,697 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IND → PHX arrives on time 80.6% of the time; the return trip, PHX → IND, arrives on time 76.8% of the time, a 3.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IND → PHX spends 20.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,488-mile trip: 14.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IND and 6.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 91% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.2% on time in its best month (November) against 74.9% in its worst (June).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where IND to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IND to PHX struggles most at 7 PM: 58.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.2 points behind the 66.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
IND to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 76.1% arrive on time, 6.6 points ahead of the 69.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
IND to PHX holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 80.6% on time to their 76.8%, a 3.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.8 points.
July is kinder to IND to PHX than to routes of similar length: 76.8% on time against 70.0%, 6.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
American Airlines does better on IND to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 82.7% on time here, 74.9% there, 7.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
IND to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 58.7% | routes of similar length | 66.9% | −8.2 pts | 252 here, 61,291 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 76.1% | routes of similar length | 69.5% | +6.6 pts | 376 here, 96,007 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 80.6% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | +3.8 pts | 696 here, 212,226 there |
| Month: July | 76.8% | routes of similar length | 70.0% | +6.8 pts | 504 here, 164,591 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | +7.8 pts | 1,995 here, 248,500 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 1,488 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
34 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 4,697 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from IND.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.6% | 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 0.30% of the time and diverts 0.15% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,676 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,697 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IND → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.3% of the time, against 69.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.0% on time from 481 flights
- 6 AM: 91.7% on time from 652 flights
- 7 AM: 87.6% on time from 780 flights
- 8 AM: 85.4% on time from 281 flights
- 9 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 76.0% on time from 122 flights
- 4 PM: 75.0% on time from 212 flights
- 5 PM: 76.1% on time from 377 flights
- 6 PM: 73.8% on time from 876 flights
- 7 PM: 58.7% on time from 255 flights
- 8 PM: 66.7% on time from 169 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IND → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IND → PHX, at 47.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.3% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 69.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,682 | 79.0% | 0.15% | -4 min | 4.5% |
| American Airlines | 2,010 | 82.7% | 0.50% | -9 min | 7.5% |
Southwest Airlines flew 57.2% of the 4,692 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 3.7 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.0%
- Feb: 80.6%
- Mar: 82.6%
- Apr: 82.0%
- May: 76.6%
- Jun: 74.9%
- Jul: 76.8%
- Aug: 80.0%
- Sep: 84.8%
- Oct: 81.5%
- Nov: 86.2%
- Dec: 80.2%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 11.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.4% from 130 flights
- August 2023: 81.1% from 122 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (115)
- October 2023: 79.7% from 128 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- March 2024: 85.0% from 140 flights
- April 2024: 81.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 63.4% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 78.9% from 128 flights
- July 2024: 81.4% from 130 flights
- August 2024: 79.2% from 125 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2024: 86.5% from 141 flights
- November 2024: 85.7% from 126 flights
- December 2024: 86.7% from 128 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2025: 84.6% from 157 flights
- April 2025: 79.9% from 149 flights
- May 2025: 80.0% from 150 flights
- June 2025: 73.0% from 127 flights
- July 2025: 74.4% from 127 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- October 2025: 78.0% from 141 flights
- November 2025: 80.2% from 126 flights
- December 2025: 65.4% from 127 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2026: 78.7% from 166 flights
- April 2026: 84.5% from 142 flights
- May 2026: 84.5% from 142 flights
- June 2026: 72.8% from 125 flights
- July 2026: 84.3% from 126 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.4% against 82.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,697 IND → PHX 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