Route profile
PHX→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Indianapolis, 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 57% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,673 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHX → IND arrives on time 76.8% of the time; the return trip, IND → PHX, arrives on time 80.6% of the time, a 3.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PHX → IND spends 21.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,488-mile trip: 15.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 6.6 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 PHX to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to IND is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 88.0% arrive on time, 7.4 points ahead of the 80.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
PHX to IND struggles most at 6 PM: 64.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.8 points behind the 70.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
Thursday is the day PHX to IND slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.1% on time where they average 76.8%, 4.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
In March, PHX to IND runs 5.9 points below routes of similar length, 72.5% on time to 78.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
American Airlines does better on PHX to IND than on its routes of similar length: 78.1% on time here, 75.0% there, 3.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3 points.
PHX to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 88.0% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | +7.4 pts | 476 here, 77,327 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 64.6% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | −5.8 pts | 534 here, 100,171 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 72.1% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | −4.7 pts | 689 here, 212,233 there |
| Month: March | 72.5% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | −5.9 pts | 462 here, 119,911 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 78.1% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | +3.1 pts | 1,998 here, 248,497 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.
PHX to IND in context
This route against PHX and IND as a whole, against similar routes from PHX, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving PHX, PHX to IND is on time 76.8% of the time, 3.5 points worse than the airport’s other departures at PHX (80.3%, from 588,319 flights).
PHX to IND arrived on time 73.3% of the time in its latest twelve months (August 2025 to July 2026), 4.7 points below the 78.0% of its first twelve (July 2023 to June 2024).
Of the 4,216 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 8 AM is the busiest hour with 684 (16.2%), 86.5% of them on time, and 11 AM the quietest with 134 (3.2%), 80.6% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
43 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 4,673 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.36% 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 4,651 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,673 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → IND flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.0% of the time, against 64.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 92.5% on time from 253 flights
- 8 AM: 86.5% on time from 684 flights
- 9 AM: 82.0% on time from 551 flights
- 10 AM: 88.0% on time from 479 flights
- 11 AM: 80.6% on time from 134 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 69.7% on time from 334 flights
- 4 PM: 66.0% on time from 518 flights
- 5 PM: 72.6% on time from 432 flights
- 6 PM: 64.6% on time from 536 flights
- 7 PM: 65.4% on time from 295 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why PHX → 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 PHX → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → IND, at 54.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.0% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.9%.
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 | 2,659 | 75.8% | 0.30% | -1 min | 6.4% |
| American Airlines | 2,009 | 78.1% | 0.45% | -5 min | 8.3% |
Southwest Airlines flew 57.0% of the 4,668 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 2.3 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 8.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.1%
- Feb: 84.7%
- Mar: 72.5%
- Apr: 74.6%
- May: 70.4%
- Jun: 73.8%
- Jul: 69.3%
- Aug: 76.1%
- Sep: 83.0%
- Oct: 81.2%
- Nov: 84.4%
- Dec: 77.0%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 15.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.7% from 130 flights
- August 2023: 75.2% from 122 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (115)
- October 2023: 82.0% 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: 72.1% from 140 flights
- April 2024: 76.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 73.2% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 67.7% from 128 flights
- July 2024: 64.8% from 130 flights
- August 2024: 74.2% from 124 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2024: 85.8% from 141 flights
- November 2024: 86.6% from 127 flights
- December 2024: 80.5% from 128 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2025: 76.4% from 157 flights
- April 2025: 79.3% from 140 flights
- May 2025: 73.1% from 136 flights
- June 2025: 79.4% from 126 flights
- July 2025: 68.8% from 127 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- October 2025: 75.7% from 140 flights
- November 2025: 80.3% from 125 flights
- December 2025: 69.5% from 128 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2026: 69.1% from 166 flights
- April 2026: 68.3% from 142 flights
- May 2026: 65.2% from 142 flights
- June 2026: 74.4% from 125 flights
- July 2026: 66.7% from 126 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.4% against 80.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,673 PHX → 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