Route profile
MCO→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Indianapolis, 829 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 34% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,418 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCO → IND arrives on time 75.5% of the time; the return trip, IND → MCO, arrives on time 80.5% of the time, a 5.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCO → IND spends 23.5 minutes on the ground on an 829-mile trip: 17.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at IND.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 97% of 4,023 comparable routes.
92.7% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 58.2% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCO to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to IND struggles most at 8 PM: 57.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.5 points behind the 66.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
MCO to IND is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 93.8% arrive on time, 5.5 points ahead of the 88.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
Sunday is the day MCO to IND slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.0% on time where they average 74.3%, 5.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
In August, MCO to IND runs 7.1 points below routes of similar length, 68.1% on time to 75.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
Frontier Airlines does better on MCO to IND than on its routes of similar length: 76.4% on time here, 72.1% there, 4.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
MCO to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 57.1% | routes of similar length | 66.6% | −9.5 pts | 450 here, 122,847 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 93.8% | routes of similar length | 88.3% | +5.5 pts | 738 here, 185,674 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 69.0% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | −5.3 pts | 1,102 here, 353,786 there |
| Month: August | 68.1% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −7.1 pts | 436 here, 197,376 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 76.4% | routes of similar length | 72.1% | +4.3 pts | 948 here, 121,244 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 829 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 MCO → IND flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MCO → IND cancelled 94 of 7,418 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 79. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 63.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 124 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 94 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.
60 cancellations, 63.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
19 cancellations, 20.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
15 cancellations, 16.0% 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.
94 coded cancellations were recorded on MCO → IND; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 7,418 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | 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 1.27% of the time and diverts 0.16% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,312 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,418 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → IND flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.7% of the time, against 58.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 34.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.0% on time from 541 flights
- 7 AM: 93.8% on time from 748 flights
- 8 AM: 88.5% on time from 377 flights
- 9 AM: 84.9% on time from 473 flights
- 10 AM: 85.5% on time from 541 flights
- 11 AM: 74.3% on time from 347 flights
- 12 PM: 74.4% on time from 305 flights
- 1 PM: 69.1% on time from 223 flights
- 2 PM: 76.4% on time from 299 flights
- 3 PM: 71.5% on time from 612 flights
- 4 PM: 71.3% on time from 540 flights
- 5 PM: 66.9% on time from 445 flights
- 6 PM: 61.4% on time from 363 flights
- 7 PM: 67.7% on time from 299 flights
- 8 PM: 57.1% on time from 461 flights
- 9 PM: 58.3% on time from 539 flights
- 10 PM: 58.1% on time from 253 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCO → IND 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 MCO → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → IND, at 44.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.7% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 58.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,846 | 75.3% | 1.01% | -2 min | 8.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,575 | 75.8% | 1.78% | -5 min | 8.8% |
| Frontier Airlines | 967 | 76.4% | 1.76% | -10 min | 10.7% |
Southwest Airlines flew 65.6% of the 7,388 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| F94837 Frontier Airlines | 3:15 PM | 610 | 76.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.4%
- Feb: 76.9%
- Mar: 72.8%
- Apr: 83.4%
- May: 76.6%
- Jun: 72.9%
- Jul: 63.3%
- Aug: 68.1%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 78.5%
- Nov: 84.6%
- Dec: 77.0%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 21.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 50.7% from 220 flights
- August 2023: 67.1% from 156 flights
- September 2023: 69.0% from 147 flights
- October 2023: 71.8% from 215 flights
- November 2023: 86.5% from 193 flights
- December 2023: 79.6% from 191 flights
- January 2024: 73.3% from 193 flights
- February 2024: 78.0% from 201 flights
- March 2024: 69.3% from 283 flights
- April 2024: 85.2% from 233 flights
- May 2024: 76.5% from 221 flights
- June 2024: 70.0% from 214 flights
- July 2024: 59.7% from 196 flights
- August 2024: 76.1% from 146 flights
- September 2024: 84.0% from 132 flights
- October 2024: 86.5% from 225 flights
- November 2024: 89.4% from 190 flights
- December 2024: 80.4% from 199 flights
- January 2025: 80.0% from 177 flights
- February 2025: 82.5% from 172 flights
- March 2025: 81.5% from 266 flights
- April 2025: 83.3% from 222 flights
- May 2025: 76.6% from 215 flights
- June 2025: 73.5% from 196 flights
- July 2025: 71.3% from 186 flights
- August 2025: 61.3% from 143 flights
- September 2025: 84.1% from 151 flights
- October 2025: 77.6% from 248 flights
- November 2025: 77.9% from 197 flights
- December 2025: 71.4% from 211 flights
- January 2026: 73.4% from 213 flights
- February 2026: 71.4% from 208 flights
- March 2026: 67.9% from 274 flights
- April 2026: 81.5% from 217 flights
- May 2026: 76.8% from 169 flights
- June 2026: 75.8% from 187 flights
- July 2026: 72.9% from 211 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.3% against 80.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,418 MCO → 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