Indianapolis International Airport

For other uses, see Indianapolis Airport (disambiguation).

Indianapolis International Airport
2008 satellite image
IATA: IND ICAO: KIND FAA LID: IND WMO: 72438
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Indianapolis Airport Authority
Serves	Indianapolis
Location	7800 Col. H. Weir Cook Memorial Drive Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Opened	1931 (1931)
Hub for	FedEx Express
Operating base for	Allegiant Air
Elevation AMSL	797 ft / 243 m
Coordinates	39°43′02″N 086°17′40″W
Website	ind.com
Maps
FAA airport diagram as of January 2021
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 5L/23R 11,200 3,414 Concrete 5R/23L 10,000 3,048 Concrete 14/32 7,278 2,218 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Total passengers 9,788,867 Air cargo (metric tons) 983,420 Aircraft operations 193,220
Source: Indianapolis International Airport

Indianapolis International Airport (IATA: IND, ICAO: KIND, FAA LID: IND) is an international airport located seven miles (11 km) southwest of downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a medium hub primary commercial service facility. The airport has flights to over 40 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The airport occupies 7,700 acres (3,116 ha) in Wayne and Decatur townships in Marion County. IND is home to the second largest FedEx Express hub in the world; only the FedEx SuperHub in Memphis, Tennessee surpasses its cargo traffic. Additionally, because of FedEx's activity, IND consistently ranks among the top 10 busiest U.S. airports in terms of air cargo throughput. Republic Airways is also headquartered at the airport, and Allegiant Air maintains Indianapolis as a focus city.

The Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZID), one of 22 established FAA area control centers, is located on the airport property's north side.

History

Beginnings

Indianapolis Municipal Airport opened in 1931, replacing the older Stout Field as the primary city airport. The airport was initially built on about 320 acres (130 ha) of land in the southwestern edge of the city, with an additional 627 acres (254 ha) reserved for future expansions at the airport. In 1944, it was renamed Weir Cook Municipal Airport, after US Army Air Forces Col. Harvey Weir Cook of Wilkinson, Indiana, who had become a flying ace during World War I with seven victories and had died flying a P-39 over New Caledonia in World War II.

Indianapolis was one of many stops along the first transcontinental air/rail service between Los Angeles and New York that was started by Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) in 1929. TAT would later become Trans World Airlines (TWA) and continued to serve IND until their merger into American Airlines in 2001.

Since 1962, the airport has been owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA). The IAA has an eight-member board with members appointed by the mayor of Indianapolis and other officials from Marion, Hendricks, and Hamilton counties in central Indiana. In 1976, the board renamed the airport Indianapolis International Airport.

From 1957 to 2008, the passenger terminal was on the east side of the airfield off High School Road. This now-demolished facility was renovated and expanded many times, notably in 1968 (Concourses A and B), 1972 (Concourse D), and 1987 (Concourse C and the attached parking garage). This complex, along with the International Arrivals Terminal (opened in 1976) on the north side of the airfield (off Pierson Drive), was replaced by the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal on November 12, 2008.

The April 1957 Official Airline Guide (OAG) shows 82 weekday departures: 24 Eastern, 22 TWA, 15 Delta, 11 American, 9 Lake Central and 1 Ozark. Eastern had a nonstop to Atlanta and one to Birmingham and TWA had two to New York-LaGuardia; no other nonstops reached beyond Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Louisville and Pittsburgh. The first jets were TWA Convair 880s in 1961. Westward nonstops did not reach beyond St. Louis until 1967 when TWA started a JFK-IND-LAX flight with a Boeing 707. In the mid-1970s, TWA ran a widebody Lockheed L-1011 on the nonstop flight to Los Angeles.

Recent years

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, USAir (later US Airways) had a secondary hub in Indianapolis with non-stop jets to the West Coast, East Coast, and Florida and turboprop flights to cities around the Midwest. USAir peaked at 146 daily departures (including its prop affiliates), with 49% of all seats. USAir ended the hub in the late 1990s.

FedEx Express began its hub at the airport in 1988, with an expansion of the hub occurring ten years later. The hub employs around 4,000 people and has a sort capacity of nearly 100,000 packages per hour, making Indianapolis the largest FedEx hub in the world outside of the company's SuperHub in Memphis.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Indianapolis was a hub for then locally based ATA Airlines and its regional affiliate, Chicago Express/ATA Connection. After that airline entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2004, operations at IND were cut, then eliminated in 2006. ATA's demise gave Northwest Airlines an opportunity to expand operations, making Indianapolis a focus city with mainline flights to the West Coast, East Coast, and the South. Northwest was later acquired by Delta Air Lines in 2008, and a decade later, Delta began service from Indianapolis to Paris in May 2018. This flight was the first ever non-stop transatlantic passenger flight out of Indianapolis. The flight, DL500, was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1990, Air Canada began nonstop service from Indianapolis to Toronto Pearson International Airport, marking the first regularly scheduled international flight out of IND. Air Canada Jazz, which operated the flight from 2001, would be retired by Air Canada in 2012, and service to IND would continue under the new Air Canada Express brand.

In 1994, BAA USA was awarded a 10-year contract to manage the Indianapolis International Airport. The contract was extended three years but was later cut a year short at the request of the BAA. Private management ended on December 31, 2007, and control reverted to IAA. Also in 1994, United Airlines finished building its Indianapolis Maintenance Center at a cost of US$600 million. United later moved their maintenance operations to its sole maintenance hub located at San Francisco International Airport. Around 2006, runway 14/32 was shortened from 7,604 feet (2,318 m) to its present length because the south end was not visible from the new control tower.

Indianapolis International Airport's Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal Civic Plaza

A new 1.2-million-square-foot (110,000 m²) midfield passenger terminal, which cost $1.1 billion, opened in 2008 between the airport's two parallel runways, southwest of the previous terminal and the crosswind runway. A new FAA Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) building, the second tallest in the United States, opened in April 2006, the first component of the long-planned midfield complex. The Weir Cook Terminal itself opened for arriving flights on the evening of November 11, 2008, and for departures the following morning. HOK was its master designer, with AeroDesign Group (a joint venture of CSO Architects, SchenkelShultz Architecture, and ARCHonsortium) serving as the architect of record. Aviation Capital Management (Indianapolis), a subsidiary of BSA LifeStructures, was the airport's program manager. Hunt/Smoot Midfield Builders, a joint venture of Hunt Construction Group and Smoot Construction was the construction manager. Thornton Tomasetti was the terminal's structural engineer along with Fink, Roberts and Petrie. Syska Hennessy was the mechanical, electrical, & plumbing engineer. In 2021, a six-person panel of Indianapolis members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) identified the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal among the ten most "architecturally significant" buildings completed in the city since World War II.

A 162-acre (66 ha), 22 MW solar farm is at the airport. It was the largest airport solar farm in the world when the second phase opened in 2014.

In August 2017, Allegiant Air announced it would open a $40 million aircraft base at the airport that would begin operations in February of the following year. The facility was to create 66 high-paying jobs by the end of year and house two Airbus aircraft.

On October 21, 2024, Aer Lingus announced nonstop flights to Dublin, Ireland beginning May 2025, marking the first transatlantic flight out of Indianapolis since 2020.

Facilities

Terminal

Exterior of the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal in 2019

Indianapolis International Airport has a single terminal with two concourses and a total of 39 gates. The current terminal opened in 2008 and is named in honor of Col. Harvey Weir Cook. It was one of the first designed and built in the U.S. following the September 11 attacks. All international arrivals are processed in Concourse A.

• Concourse A contains 20 gates.
• Concourse B contains 19 gates.

Ground transportation

Eight rental car operations and the Ground Transportation Center (where information about limousine, shuttle bus, hotel courtesy vehicles and other transportation services such as IndyGo bus service can be obtained) are located on the first floor of the attached parking garage. All pick-ups and drop-offs of rental vehicles also occur here, eliminating the need for shuttling customers to and from individual companies' remote processing facilities. The five-floor parking garage covers 11 acres (4.5 ha) on each of its levels. It features a light-filled center atrium complete with a piece of suspended artwork and contains moving sidewalks to speed pedestrians into and out of the terminal building itself.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Refs
Aer Lingus	Dublin (begins May 3, 2025)
Air Canada Express	Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
Alaska Airlines	Seattle/Tacoma
Allegiant Air	Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville (FL), Key West, Las Vegas, Orlando/Sanford, Punta Gorda (FL), Sarasota, St. Petersburg/Clearwater Seasonal: Austin, Boston, Charleston (SC), Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Los Angeles, Myrtle Beach, Savannah, West Palm Beach
American Airlines	Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix–Sky Harbor Seasonal: Cancún, Washington–National
American Eagle	Boston, Chicago–O'Hare, New York–JFK, New York–LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Washington–National Seasonal: Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City
Delta Connection	Austin (begins May 7, 2025), Boston, Detroit, New York–JFK, New York–LaGuardia Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul
Frontier Airlines	Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Orlando Seasonal: Raleigh/Durham
Southwest Airlines	Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Cancún, Dallas–Love, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Houston–Hobby, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville (begins March 6, 2025), Orlando, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, San Diego, Sarasota, Tampa Seasonal: Miami, Panama City (FL)
Spirit Airlines	Atlanta (begins May 7, 2025), Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Newark, Orlando Seasonal: Fort Myers (resumes November 21, 2024), Myrtle Beach, Tampa
Sun Country Airlines	Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul
United Airlines	Denver, Houston–Intercontinental, San Francisco Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare
United Express	Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Newark, Washington–Dulles

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Cargolux	Chicago–O'Hare, Luxembourg, New York–JFK
Castle Aviation	Akron/Canton, Hamilton (ON)
FedEx Express	Allentown, Anchorage, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Burbank, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Cleveland, Cologne/Bonn, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Worth/Alliance, Grand Rapids, Greenville (SC), Greensboro, Harrisburg, Hartford, Houston–Intercontinental, Kansas City, Knoxville, Liège, London–Stansted, Los Angeles, Madison, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montreal–Mirabel, Nashville, Newark, Newburgh, New Orleans, New York–JFK, Norfolk, Oakland, Omaha, Ontario, Orlando, Ottawa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Philadelphia, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Jose (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis, Syracuse, Tampa, Toronto–Pearson, Washington–Dulles
FedEx Feeder	Buffalo, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Fargo, Parkersburg, Rochester (MN), Sioux Falls, South Bend

Statistics

FAA control tower

Indianapolis International Airport boarding area

Walkway from the terminal to the parking garage with motion-activated lights

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from IND (January 2023 - December 2023)

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Atlanta, Georgia	478,000	Delta, Southwest, Spirit
2	Denver, Colorado	339,000	Frontier, Southwest, United
3	Orlando, Florida	307,000	Frontier, Southwest, Spirit
4	Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas	248,000	American, Frontier
5	Charlotte, North Carolina	247,000	American
6	Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois	238,000	American, United
7	Las Vegas, Nevada	212,000	Allegiant, Southwest, Spirit
8	Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona	208,000	American, Southwest
9	Newark, New Jersey	163,000	Spirit, United
10	Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota	158,000	Delta, Sun Country

Busiest cargo routes from IND (December 2019)

Rank	City	Cargo (pounds)	Carriers
1	Los Angeles, California	6,944,183	Cargolux, FedEx Express
2	Oakland, California	6,717,406	FedEx Express
3	Memphis, Tennessee	6,603,929	FedEx Express
4	Newark, New Jersey	5,786,845	FedEx Express
5	Boston, Massachusetts	4,590,933	FedEx Express
6	Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas	3,996,817	FedEx Express
7	Seattle/Tacoma, Washington	3,943,765	FedEx Express
8	Denver, Colorado	3,718,289	FedEx Express
9	Anchorage, Alaska	3,592,389	FedEx Express
10	Atlanta, Georgia	3,588,692	Cargolux, FedEx Express

Airline market share

Largest airlines at IND (YTD 2024)

Rank	Airline	Passengers	Share
1	Southwest Airlines	1,986,514	28.2%
2	American Airlines	1,813,004	25.8%
3	Delta Air Lines	1,247,637	17.7%
4	United Airlines	831,225	11.8%
5	Spirit Airlines	486,897	6.9%
	Other	670,204	9.5%

Annual traffic

Annual passenger traffic at IND
1996–present

Year	Passengers
1996	7,069,039
1997	7,171,845
1998	7,292,132
1999	7,463,536
2000	7,722,191
2001	7,238,744
2002	6,896,418
2003	7,361,060
2004	8,025,051
2005	8,524,442
2006	8,085,394
2007	8,272,289
2008	8,151,488
2009	7,465,719
2010	7,526,414
2011	7,478,835
2012	7,333,733
2013	7,217,051
2014	7,363,632
2015	7,998,086
2016	8,511,959
2017	8,800,828
2018	9,413,962
2019	9,537,377
2020	4,104,648
2021	7,175,979
2022	8,693,024
2023	9,788,867

Passenger traffic trends

Annual passenger traffic at IND airport. See Wikidata query.

Accidents and incidents

• On September 9, 1969, Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 on a Boston – Baltimore – Cincinnati – Indianapolis – St. Louis route, collided in midair with a Piper Cherokee during its descent over Fairland, Indiana, in Shelby County. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 crashed into a cornfield near London, Indiana, killing all 78 passengers and 4 crew members on board. The student pilot who was flying the Cherokee was also killed.
• On October 20, 1987, a United States Air Force A-7D Corsair II crashed into a Ramada Inn near the airport after the pilot was forced to eject due to an engine malfunction. Ten people were killed, nine of them hotel employees.

See also

• List of airports in Indiana
• List of the busiest airports in the United States
• List of attractions and events in Indianapolis
• List of largest cargo airports in the United States
• List of tallest air traffic control towers in the United States
• List of tallest buildings in Indianapolis § Other structures
• Transportation in Indianapolis

External links

• Indianapolis International Airport (official site)
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective October 31, 2024

• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KIND
  • ASN accident history for IND
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KIND
  • FAA current IND delay information