IND breaks records as U.S. air travel soars
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A nationwide uptick in air travel pushed the Indianapolis International Airport to new highs in 2024, and 2025 is poised for growth with an increase in flight options out of IND.
Driving the news: According to preliminary FAA data, there were 16.8 million flights in the nation's airspace last year — up about 500,000 from 2023 and the highest FAA tally since 2019.
- Thursdays held strong as the most popular day to fly with more than 2.58 million Thursday flights in 2024. Fridays came in second at 2.54 million flights.
- And as the number of flights increased year-over-year, the cancellation rate stayed the same at 1.2%. That's the lowest since 2016.
Zoom in: In December, Indianapolis International Airport announced that more than 10 million people traveled through the airport in 2024, a new record.
- More than 2.8 million people flew through the Indy airport in June, July and August, marking the busiest summer in the airport's history.
Plus: Late 2024 also marked the completion of the Indianapolis Airport Authority's three-year, three-phase $295 million reconstruction project to bolster IND's capacity. In total, the airport received $146 million in federal grants to complete the work.
State of play: IAA senior director of commercial enterprise Marsha Wurster said airline relationships and community partnerships played a major role in the record year, resulting in new flights coming to IND throughout 2024.
- Wurster also credited Visit Indy and Indiana Sports Corp. for attracting top events.
- Events that drew the most attention included the NBA All-Star game, U.S. Olympic Swim Trials, Vice President Harris speaking at the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority national convention, Gen Con 2024 and "The Eras Tour."
- IAA continued their focus on special event flights by rolling out additional nonstop flights to Atlanta via American and Southwest airlines for Notre Dame's national championship game.
Between the lines: According to IAA, last weekend saw 23 departing flights from IND to ATL, a 15% increase from the previous weekend, with special added flights making up 8.7% of the weekend's departing flights.
- On Tuesday, there are 11 arriving flights to IND from ATL, a 57% increase from the usual January Tuesday, per IAA.
What's next: IAA air service and airport experience director Maggie Cunningham told Axios the airport wants to continue to be a good partner to the organizations working to draw crowds to the city in 2025.
- She added that having specialty events and exciting things to talk about on a frequent basis gives lets decision makers know that Indy is city worth connecting to.
By the numbers: The U.S. Travel Association is projecting travel spending to grow 3.9% to $1.35 trillion in 2025 with additional growth to $1.46 trillion by 2028.
- Air travel volumes are expected to continue growing into 2026 and beyond.
What they're saying: "Now our job is to make sure we get all the right information to give the airlines confidence in adding a flights. So we're thinking about WWE, we're thinking about the WNBA All-Star game and what kind of attendance is that going to bring ... and and all things in between," she said. "So another really busy and exciting year for us at the airport."
The bottom line: If you're traveling in or out of IND in 2025, plan for a packed flight and celebrate if you score a row of seats to yourself.
Go deeper: New flights coming to Indy in 2025