Carrier performance at one airport
NK→MCO
Spirit Airlines at Orlando International
- Departures
- 11,307
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 25
- Rank here
- #9 of 10
Spirit Airlines at Orlando carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.3% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about seven flights in ten arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 11,307 flights, of which United Airlines flew 15,054 at 81.5% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Spirit Airlines runs 4 points behind the 74.6% weighted average across all carriers at MCO. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
70.1%
10,798 completed departures
Avg delay
67 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
4.34%
At MCO, this carrier only
Rank here
#9
Of 10 carriers clearing the floor at MCO
These figures cover 11,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Against the competition
Every carrier at MCO, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.5% of the time; Allegiant Air manages 67.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 407 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 15,054 | 81.5% | 83 min | 1.11% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 21,571 | 77.9% | 83 min | 1.94% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 2,396 | 77.7% | 58 min | 0.63% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 19,073 | 76.3% | 79 min | 1.68% | B |
| Republic Airways | 404 | 75.8% | 60 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 19,654 | 74.4% | 90 min | 1.97% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 51,275 | 72.6% | 57 min | 1.12% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 18,799 | 71.3% | 77 min | 2.72% | C |
| Spirit Airlines (this page) | 11,307 | 70.1% | 67 min | 4.34% | C− |
| Allegiant Air | 407 | 67.8% | 93 min | 1.72% | C |
Spirit Airlines cancels 4.3% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where Spirit Airlines flies from MCO
Spirit Airlines operates 25 routes out of MCO with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCO to EWR · Newark | 886 | 68.0% | 68 min | 6.43% | C− |
| MCO to DTW · Detroit | 771 | 67.9% | 67 min | 2.20% | C |
| MCO to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 613 | 70.4% | 59 min | 1.96% | C |
| MCO to BNA · Nashville | 577 | 73.0% | 69 min | 5.72% | C− |
| MCO to IAH · Houston | 545 | 77.7% | 67 min | 3.12% | B− |
| MCO to LGA · New York | 544 | 63.5% | 68 min | 6.07% | D− |
| MCO to SJU · San Juan | 483 | 75.9% | 65 min | 1.24% | B |
| MCO to ORD · Chicago | 462 | 59.0% | 74 min | 4.98% | D− |
| MCO to BWI · Baltimore | 453 | 70.4% | 64 min | 3.97% | C− |
| MCO to PHL · Philadelphia | 433 | 62.5% | 70 min | 6.47% | D− |
| MCO to ACY · Atlantic City | 429 | 69.3% | 64 min | 6.99% | C− |
| MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 403 | 70.8% | 60 min | 3.97% | C− |
| MCO to MSY · New Orleans | 395 | 72.2% | 71 min | 3.54% | C− |
| MCO to BOS · Boston | 392 | 70.1% | 54 min | 4.59% | C− |
| MCO to CLT · Charlotte | 370 | 72.5% | 66 min | 5.41% | C− |
| MCO to ATL · Atlanta | 369 | 65.1% | 65 min | 3.79% | C− |
| MCO to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 350 | 76.8% | 74 min | 2.57% | B |
| MCO to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 349 | 75.7% | 65 min | 4.30% | B− |
| MCO to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 302 | 61.0% | 63 min | 3.31% | D− |
| MCO to MEM · Memphisthin sample | 247 | 76.6% | 59 min | 3.24% | B− |
| MCO to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 213 | 72.3% | 78 min | 5.16% | C− |
| MCO to SAT · San Antoniothin sample | 206 | 74.9% | 69 min | 7.28% | C− |
| MCO to PNS · Pensacolathin sample | 199 | 65.8% | 63 min | 4.02% | C− |
| MCO to ORF · Norfolkthin sample | 185 | 63.3% | 67 min | 8.65% | D− |
| MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample | 169 | 74.2% | 97 min | 3.55% | C− |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 27 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,430 flights89.6%
- 8am–11am1,811 flights75.0%
- 11am–2pm1,158 flights72.5%
- 2pm–5pm2,035 flights66.7%
- 5pm–8pm2,243 flights63.0%
- 8pm–5am2,630 flights63.1%
Scale runs 55% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 63.0% on time, against 89.6% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 2,630 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
September is the best month on the calendar at 86.6% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back. March was the busiest month here, with 1,553 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 37%National Airspace System
- 36%Carrier
- 25%Late-arriving aircraft
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 36%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 79,000 of the 216,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 216,139 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.34%, against 1.89% nationally. That is about one flight in 25 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
11.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 11,307 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 4.34% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you about an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 5am–8am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic. 10,798 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Spirit Airlines at MCO
How often is Spirit Airlines at MCO delayed?
Roughly one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 29.9% of the 11,307 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Spirit Airlines at MCO?
United Airlines leads at 81.5% on time across 15,054 flights. Allegiant Air is at the other end on 67.8%, a gap of 14 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Spirit Airlines at MCO?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 89.6% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 63.0%, 27 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are March delays on Spirit Airlines at MCO?
March is the weakest month at 51.3% on time, compared with 86.6% in September. Across the year that is 35 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.