diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/_edit.js b/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/_edit.js
index 4b3e5146bbadb..0bcabf7c4bae6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/_edit.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/_edit.js
@@ -11,18 +11,29 @@ import editTemplate from 'plugins/kibana/management/sections/indices/_edit.html'
 import IngestProvider from 'ui/ingest';
 
 uiRoutes
-.when('/management/kibana/indices/:indexPatternId?', {
+.when('/management/kibana/indices/:indexPatternId', {
   template: editTemplate,
   resolve: {
-    indexPattern: function ($route, config, courier) {
-      const params = $route.current.params;
+    indexPattern: function ($route, courier) {
+      return courier.indexPatterns
+        .get($route.current.params.indexPatternId)
+        .catch(courier.redirectWhenMissing('/management/data/index'));
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+uiRoutes
+.when('/management/kibana/indices', {
+  resolve: {
+    redirect: function ($location, config) {
+      const defaultIndex = config.get('defaultIndex');
+      let path = '/management/data/index';
 
-      if (typeof params.indexPatternId === 'undefined') {
-        params.indexPatternId = config.get('defaultIndex');
+      if (defaultIndex) {
+        path = `/management/kibana/indices/${defaultIndex}`;
       }
 
-      return courier.indexPatterns.get(params.indexPatternId)
-      .catch(courier.redirectWhenMissing('/management/data/index'));
+      $location.path(path).replace();
     }
   }
 });
diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/index.js b/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/index.js
index 97cd61f4131f7..55d1da5a2b471 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/index.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/public/management/sections/indices/index.js
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ const indexPatternsResolutions = {
 // add a dependency to all of the subsection routes
 uiRoutes
 .defaults(/management\/kibana\/indices/, {
-  resolve: indexPatternsResolutions,
-  requireDefaultIndex: true
+  resolve: indexPatternsResolutions
 });
 
 uiRoutes