Route profile
MSP→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to Indianapolis, 503 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 76% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,859 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSP → IND arrives on time 81.3% of the time; the return trip, IND → MSP, arrives on time 84.5% of the time, a 3.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSP → IND spends 25.9 minutes on the ground on a 503-mile trip: 18.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP and 7.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at IND.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where MSP to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to IND is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 79.9% arrive on time, 12.6 points ahead of the 67.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
MSP to IND struggles most at 7 AM: 84.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.7 points behind the 88.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.5 points.
MSP to IND holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 82.3% on time to their 75.5%, a 6.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
May is kinder to MSP to IND than to routes of similar length: 86.7% on time against 76.0%, 10.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
In January, MSP to IND runs 9.7 points below routes of similar length, 70.1% on time to 79.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
MSP to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 79.9% | routes of similar length | 67.3% | +12.6 pts | 737 here, 68,532 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 88.0% | −3.7 pts | 401 here, 97,558 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 82.3% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | +6.8 pts | 554 here, 205,880 there |
| Month: May | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +10.7 pts | 347 here, 117,380 there |
| Month: January | 70.1% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −9.7 pts | 241 here, 99,737 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 503 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
38 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 3,859 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.54% of the time and diverts 0.05% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,836 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,859 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → IND flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 89.2% of the time, against 74.8% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 14.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 84.3% on time from 404 flights
- 8 AM: 85.7% on time from 168 flights
- 9 AM: 89.8% on time from 336 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 83.3% on time from 223 flights
- 1 PM: 84.2% on time from 817 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 75.7% on time from 507 flights
- 4 PM: 73.0% on time from 258 flights
- 5 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 76.8% on time from 128 flights
- 8 PM: 79.9% on time from 739 flights
- 9 PM: 76.3% on time from 235 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSP → IND runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSP → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,169 | 81.7% | 0.54% | -7 min | 6.0% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 507 | 76.7% | 0.79% | -6 min | 8.0% |
Delta Air Lines flew 86.2% of the 3,676 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 5.0 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL674 Delta Air Lines | 7:59 PM | 726 | 77.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.1%
- Feb: 79.8%
- Mar: 80.0%
- Apr: 82.4%
- May: 86.7%
- Jun: 73.3%
- Jul: 76.3%
- Aug: 77.4%
- Sep: 88.7%
- Oct: 89.2%
- Nov: 91.0%
- Dec: 79.0%
January is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2023: 76.7% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- October 2024: 92.5% from 120 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (63)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (56)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (53)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (69)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (75)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (117)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.2% against 82.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,859 MSP → 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