Airport month record
MCOJAN
Orlando International in January 2026
- Departures
- 13,786
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at MCO, see live FAA status.
MCO in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.9% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 13,786 flights, of which United Airlines flew 1,380 at 84.2% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 84.2% on time across 1,380 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 13,232 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.87%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
74.3%
MCO across all twelve months
These figures cover 13,786 departures from Orlando International in January 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
January next to MCO's other months
Against MCO's own year, January ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 74.3%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 3.87% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 71.7% on time and February 72.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,922 flights90.4%
- 8am–11am2,800 flights82.5%
- 11am–2pm2,232 flights76.0%
- 2pm–5pm2,585 flights70.8%
- 5pm–8pm2,715 flights69.2%
- 8pm–5am1,532 flights61.2%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 61.2% on time, against 90.4% 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 2,800 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 83.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 59.9%. 24 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MCO in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 84.2% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 69.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,440 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,148 | 76.5% | 43 min | 2.39% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,870 | 75.9% | 75 min | 3.16% | B− |
| American Airlines | 1,725 | 74.1% | 90 min | 7.83% | C− |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,501 | 71.6% | 67 min | 6.20% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,440 | 69.2% | 75 min | 5.56% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,395 | 75.0% | 75 min | 3.01% | B− |
| United Airlines | 1,380 | 84.2% | 68 min | 1.59% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 228 | 74.9% | 54 min | 0.44% | C+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 68 | 68.2% | 54 min | 2.94% | C |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 31 | 70.0% | 144 min | 3.23% | C− |
American Airlines cancels 7.8% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCO to ATL · Atlanta | 701 | 77.8% | 62 min | 2.71% | B |
| MCO to EWR · Newark | 600 | 78.9% | 85 min | 4.50% | B− |
| MCO to ORD · Chicago | 539 | 71.9% | 60 min | 2.41% | C |
| MCO to LGA · New York | 513 | 73.2% | 71 min | 5.65% | C− |
| MCO to SJU · San Juan | 506 | 68.9% | 64 min | 3.95% | C− |
| MCO to PHL · Philadelphia | 449 | 71.2% | 92 min | 6.90% | C− |
| MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 441 | 76.7% | 69 min | 10.43% | B− |
| MCO to CLT · Charlotte | 410 | 75.1% | 80 min | 8.78% | B− |
| MCO to BWI · Baltimore | 410 | 81.4% | 54 min | 4.39% | B− |
| MCO to BOS · Boston | 406 | 72.5% | 81 min | 5.91% | C− |
| MCO to DEN · Denver | 388 | 82.7% | 42 min | 0.26% | B+ |
| MCO to DCA · Washington | 379 | 69.6% | 76 min | 6.86% | C− |
| MCO to JFK · New York | 375 | 73.3% | 65 min | 6.13% | C− |
| MCO to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 350 | 88.8% | 50 min | 0.57% | A+ |
| MCO to MIA · Miamithin sample | 333 | 69.3% | 74 min | 2.70% | C |
| MCO to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 331 | 69.2% | 71 min | 0.91% | C+ |
| MCO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 303 | 83.2% | 97 min | 1.65% | B |
| MCO to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 289 | 80.1% | 53 min | 7.96% | B− |
| MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample | 241 | 77.0% | 97 min | 2.49% | B |
| MCO to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 226 | 76.4% | 74 min | 7.96% | B− |
| MCO to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 222 | 78.4% | 51 min | 4.05% | B− |
| MCO to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 213 | 73.1% | 47 min | 1.41% | C |
| MCO to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 213 | 80.8% | 57 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MCO to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 213 | 73.4% | 53 min | 2.82% | C |
| MCO to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 197 | 70.5% | 57 min | 2.03% | C |
Delay causes
What held MCO up in January
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 214,000 reported delay minutes.
- 41%Late-arriving aircraft
- 35%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
41% 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 214,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 16 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 214,196 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.87%, against 4.71% 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.
8.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. 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 January
For a January trip through MCO: expect 75.4% on time and 3.87% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 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.