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DelayAtlas

Airport month record

MCOFEB

Orlando International in February 2026

Departures
13,339
Month
February 2026
National, same month
80.2%
Carriers
10
CGRADE

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

MCO in February sits in the middle of the pack with a C. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 7 points worse than the national rate of 80.2%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 13,339 flights, of which United Airlines flew 1,282 at 83.4% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 83.4% on time across 1,282 flights.

Key figures

On time

72.9%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 12,971 completed departures

Avg delay

66 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

2.61%

Nationally in February: 2.25%

Whole year

74.3%

MCO across all twelve months

These figures cover 13,339 departures from Orlando International in February 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

February next to MCO's other months

Against MCO's own year, February ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 74.3%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where February stands out: 2.61% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, January ran 75.4% on time and March 70.5%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

MCO month by month
MonthFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
July 202513,57967.0%84 min1.81%C
August 202512,74667.5%81 min0.79%C+
September 202511,25684.6%60 min0.22%B+
October 202513,24575.6%70 min0.55%B+
November 202513,20679.1%76 min1.92%B
December 202514,28771.7%69 min1.36%C
January 202613,78675.4%66 min3.87%B−
February 2026 (this page)13,33972.9%66 min2.61%C
March 202615,49770.5%73 min3.96%C−
April 202614,60477.6%60 min0.39%B+
May 202612,95878.5%64 min0.70%B+
June 202612,54173.3%77 min1.00%C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave MCO in February

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 36 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

  • 5am–8am1,901 flights91.9%
  • 8am–11am2,681 flights79.9%
  • 11am–2pm2,119 flights73.6%
  • 2pm–5pm2,437 flights69.4%
  • 5pm–8pm2,509 flights65.1%
  • 8pm–5am1,692 flights56.0%

Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 56.0% on time, against 91.9% 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 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 2,681 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 59.7%. 23 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

On-time rate by day of the week70.6Mon79.6Tue82.6Wed74.5Thu70.7Fri74.0Sat59.7Sun
Monday: 70.6 percent on time. Tuesday: 79.6 percent on time. Wednesday: 82.6 percent on time. Thursday: 74.5 percent on time. Friday: 70.7 percent on time. Saturday: 74.0 percent on time. Sunday: 59.7 percent on time

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MCO in February

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 83.4% of the time; Spirit Airlines manages 66.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,464 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MCO in February 2026
AirlineFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
Southwest Airlines4,08869.3%51 min1.05%C
Delta Air Lines1,73774.2%81 min2.19%C
American Airlines1,58374.9%86 min1.71%C
Frontier Airlines1,48379.8%67 min1.35%B
Spirit Airlines1,46466.1%64 min7.86%C−
JetBlue Airways1,42567.1%71 min5.68%C−
United Airlines1,28283.4%70 min1.72%B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample21388.2%64 min0.94%A+
Allegiant Airthin sample3275.0%117 min0.00%B+
Republic Airwaysthin sample3278.1%50 min0.00%B+

Spirit Airlines cancels 7.9% 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 February

Routes from MCO in February 2026
RouteFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
MCO to ATL · Atlanta66174.8%71 min0.45%C+
MCO to EWR · Newark56273.4%66 min8.90%C−
MCO to ORD · Chicago55370.7%54 min0.54%C+
MCO to LGA · New York46868.4%65 min7.05%C−
MCO to BOS · Boston44767.6%78 min8.72%C−
MCO to PHL · Philadelphia43571.0%82 min5.75%C−
MCO to SJU · San Juan42971.7%61 min1.17%C
MCO to BWI · Baltimore39972.6%55 min3.51%C−
MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth38579.6%78 min0.78%B+
MCO to JFK · New York37572.0%94 min7.73%C−
MCO to DEN · Denver37477.2%75 min0.00%B+
MCO to CLT · Charlotte37177.3%75 min2.16%B
MCO to DTW · Detroitthin sample35371.6%63 min1.13%C
MCO to DCA · Washingtonthin sample34358.9%64 min1.46%D
MCO to IAH · Houstonthin sample31886.7%78 min0.63%A+
MCO to MIA · Miamithin sample29973.2%64 min0.33%C+
MCO to BNA · Nashvillethin sample29273.8%46 min3.42%C−
MCO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample26982.5%87 min0.00%B+
MCO to RDU · Raleighthin sample23271.6%86 min0.00%C+
MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample22978.9%77 min0.87%B+
MCO to MSY · New Orleansthin sample21278.5%71 min1.42%B
MCO to DAL · Dallasthin sample20976.1%53 min1.91%B
MCO to IND · Indianapolisthin sample20871.4%50 min0.96%C+
MCO to MDW · Chicagothin sample20466.7%62 min0.00%C+
MCO to STL · St. Louisthin sample19680.4%70 min0.51%B+

Delay causes

What held MCO up in February

Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 230,000 reported delay minutes.

  • Late-arriving aircraft
    40%
  • Carrier
    36%
  • National Airspace System
    22%
  • Extreme weather
    3%
  • Security
    0%

40% 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 230,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 15 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 230,343 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations run at 2.61%, against 2.25% nationally. That is about one flight in 40 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.

8.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.5%. 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 February

For a February trip through MCO: expect 72.9% on time and 2.61% cancelled, going by February 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Related

Where to go next

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.