Airport month record

MCODEC

Orlando International in December 2025

Departures: 14,287
Month: December 2025
National, same month: 73.2%
Carriers: 9

Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at MCO, see live FAA status.

MCO in December sits in the middle of the pack with a C. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points worse than the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 14,287 flights, of which United Airlines flew 1,347 at 82.1% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 82.1% on time across 1,347 flights.

On time

71.7%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 14,063 completed departures

Avg delay

69 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.36%

Nationally in December: 1.55%

Whole year

74.3%

MCO across all twelve months

These figures cover 14,287 departures from Orlando International in December 2025. 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

December next to MCO's other months

Against MCO's own year, December ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 74.3%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 79.1% on time and January 75.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 December

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 36 points, against 18 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am2,266 flights91.3%
8am–11am2,739 flights80.8%
11am–2pm2,257 flights72.4%
2pm–5pm2,378 flights67.6%
5pm–8pm2,795 flights60.4%
8pm–5am1,852 flights55.5%

Scale runs 45% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 55.5% on time, against 91.3% 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 2,795 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 83.9% on time and Sunday the weakest at 60.7%. 23 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MCO in December

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 82.1% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 64.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,727 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MCO in December 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	4,538	70.9%	55 min	0.59%	C+
Delta Air Lines	1,915	73.4%	85 min	2.61%	C
JetBlue Airways	1,727	64.6%	73 min	1.68%	D
American Airlines	1,690	74.0%	84 min	0.36%	C+
Frontier Airlines	1,432	73.7%	74 min	1.68%	C
United Airlines	1,347	82.1%	70 min	0.45%	B+
Spirit Airlines	1,284	64.9%	70 min	3.97%	D−
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	236	77.0%	61 min	0.42%	B+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	91	67.8%	55 min	0.00%	C+

Spirit Airlines cancels 4.0% 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

Busiest routes out of MCO in December

Routes from MCO in December 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MCO to ATL · Atlanta	721	73.1%	82 min	1.66%	C
MCO to EWR · Newark	608	71.1%	66 min	2.80%	C
MCO to ORD · Chicago	553	66.3%	70 min	0.72%	C+
MCO to SJU · San Juan	535	69.2%	65 min	0.56%	C+
MCO to LGA · New York	466	62.5%	83 min	5.36%	D−
MCO to PHL · Philadelphia	447	65.8%	75 min	1.79%	C
MCO to JFK · New York	446	66.4%	79 min	2.91%	C
MCO to BOS · Boston	436	72.9%	81 min	1.83%	C
MCO to BWI · Baltimore	423	75.5%	59 min	1.42%	B
MCO to DCA · Washington	411	68.6%	85 min	0.49%	C+
MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	410	77.5%	71 min	0.24%	B+
MCO to DEN · Denver	401	79.0%	64 min	0.50%	B+
MCO to CLT · Charlotte	389	75.6%	72 min	0.51%	B+
MCO to DTW · Detroitthin sample	343	57.7%	87 min	1.46%	D
MCO to MIA · Miamithin sample	331	76.7%	61 min	0.30%	B+
MCO to IAH · Houstonthin sample	315	84.4%	53 min	0.32%	B+
MCO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	309	86.5%	85 min	1.29%	A
MCO to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	294	70.7%	59 min	1.36%	C
MCO to MDW · Chicagothin sample	241	64.9%	49 min	0.41%	D+
MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample	241	77.2%	65 min	0.00%	B+
MCO to DAL · Dallasthin sample	238	73.6%	59 min	1.26%	C
MCO to RDU · Raleighthin sample	226	74.6%	67 min	0.88%	C+
MCO to STL · St. Louisthin sample	221	73.5%	67 min	0.45%	C+
MCO to IND · Indianapolisthin sample	211	71.4%	65 min	1.90%	C
MCO to CMH · Columbusthin sample	194	71.5%	62 min	0.52%	C+

Delay causes

What held MCO up in December

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 274,000 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
48%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
18%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

48% 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 274,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 23 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 274,430 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.36% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.21%.

For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.

What to do with this

Flying from MCO in December

For a December trip through MCO: expect 71.7% on time and 1.36% cancelled, going by December 2025. 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 January75.4%
MCO in February72.9%
MCO in March70.5%
MCO in April77.6%
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