Washington to Indianapolis

What the Data Says About DCA to IND

The Washington to Indianapolis corridor (DCA → IND) covers roughly 500 miles and is served by 16 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 9,552 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 83.9% on-time rate with an average delay of 74.3 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,033 flights were recorded on this pairing — 101 cancelled (2.5%) and 5 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 16 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 9,552 total flights analyzed, the 83.9% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 74.3-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 93% on-time, while Dec 2025 came in at 62% on-time — a 31-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the DCA to IND route, the combination of a 83.9% on-time rate, 74.3-minute average delay, 2.5% recent cancellation rate, and 16 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.