Airport month record

MCOAPR

Orlando International in April 2026

Departures: 14,604
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 9

Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at MCO, see live FAA status.

MCO in April lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 79.8%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 14,604 flights, of which United Airlines flew 1,355 at 87.6% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 87.6% on time across 1,355 flights.

On time

77.6%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 14,504 completed departures

Avg delay

60 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.39%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

74.3%

MCO across all twelve months

These figures cover 14,604 departures from Orlando International in April 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

April next to MCO's other months

Against MCO's own year, April ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 74.3%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MCO in April, at 0.39% against 1.65% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 70.5% on time and May 78.5%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

MCO month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	13,579	67.0%	84 min	1.81%	C
August 2025	12,746	67.5%	81 min	0.79%	C+
September 2025	11,256	84.6%	60 min	0.22%	B+
October 2025	13,245	75.6%	70 min	0.55%	B+
November 2025	13,206	79.1%	76 min	1.92%	B
December 2025	14,287	71.7%	69 min	1.36%	C
January 2026	13,786	75.4%	66 min	3.87%	B−
February 2026	13,339	72.9%	66 min	2.61%	C
March 2026	15,497	70.5%	73 min	3.96%	C−
April 2026 (this page)	14,604	77.6%	60 min	0.39%	B+
May 2026	12,958	78.5%	64 min	0.70%	B+
June 2026	12,541	73.3%	77 min	1.00%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave MCO in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 30 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am2,261 flights92.7%
8am–11am2,669 flights89.1%
11am–2pm2,292 flights78.5%
2pm–5pm2,462 flights75.2%
5pm–8pm2,766 flights66.4%
8pm–5am2,154 flights63.2%

Scale runs 55% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 63.2% on time, against 92.7% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,766 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.9% on time and Monday the weakest at 69.4%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MCO in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 87.6% of the time; Spirit Airlines manages 65.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,303 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MCO in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	4,475	76.2%	42 min	0.11%	B+
Delta Air Lines	1,961	82.5%	66 min	0.15%	B+
Frontier Airlines	1,811	78.3%	75 min	0.44%	B+
American Airlines	1,729	78.3%	76 min	0.64%	B+
JetBlue Airways	1,707	74.3%	64 min	0.06%	C+
United Airlines	1,355	87.6%	71 min	0.07%	A+
Spirit Airlines	1,303	65.5%	62 min	2.07%	C
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	210	82.9%	51 min	0.00%	B+
Allegiant Airthin sample	37	72.2%	42 min	2.70%	C

The spread between United and Spirit is 22 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 22 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of MCO in April

Routes from MCO in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MCO to ATL · Atlanta	758	82.4%	64 min	0.26%	B+
MCO to EWR · Newark	659	84.1%	55 min	0.61%	B+
MCO to ORD · Chicago	582	69.8%	82 min	2.06%	C
MCO to BOS · Boston	522	68.3%	57 min	0.38%	C+
MCO to PHL · Philadelphia	505	75.4%	65 min	0.79%	B+
MCO to JFK · New York	482	77.6%	59 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to SJU · San Juan	479	74.3%	69 min	0.21%	C+
MCO to LGA · New York	475	70.0%	66 min	0.00%	C+
MCO to CLT · Charlotte	466	82.6%	84 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	436	76.9%	59 min	1.38%	B
MCO to BWI · Baltimore	434	76.4%	48 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to DCA · Washington	383	75.9%	82 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to DEN · Denverthin sample	342	85.7%	46 min	0.00%	A+
MCO to DTW · Detroitthin sample	341	75.2%	61 min	0.59%	B+
MCO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	321	84.5%	55 min	0.31%	B+
MCO to IAH · Houstonthin sample	311	86.4%	79 min	0.32%	A+
MCO to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	299	80.5%	46 min	0.33%	B+
MCO to MIA · Miamithin sample	293	75.8%	81 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to RDU · Raleighthin sample	241	78.3%	52 min	0.41%	B+
MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample	239	77.7%	47 min	0.42%	B+
MCO to DAL · Dallasthin sample	234	73.3%	44 min	0.00%	C+
MCO to STL · St. Louisthin sample	223	81.4%	42 min	0.45%	B+
MCO to MDW · Chicagothin sample	219	75.2%	50 min	1.37%	B
MCO to IND · Indianapolisthin sample	217	81.5%	46 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	212	91.5%	51 min	0.47%	A+

Delay causes

What held MCO up in April

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 194,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
44%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
25%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

44% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 194,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 25 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 193,699 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.39%, below the national 0.90% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

6.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from MCO in April

For a April trip through MCO: expect 77.6% on time and 0.39% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Orlando International (MCO), the whole year
MCO in July67.0%
MCO in August67.5%
MCO in September84.6%
MCO in October75.6%
MCO in November79.1%
MCO in December71.7%
MCO in January75.4%
MCO in February72.9%
MCO in March70.5%
MCO in May78.5%
MCO in June73.3%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures