Airport month record
MCOMAY
Orlando International in May 2026
- Departures
- 12,958
- Month
- May 2026
- National, same month
- 78.6%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for May 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s May. For today’s conditions at MCO, see live FAA status.
MCO in May lands a B+, level with the national rate of 78.6%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 12,958 flights, of which Frontier Airlines flew 1,625 at 86.4% on time.
Frontier Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 86.4% on time across 1,625 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 12,834 completed departures
Avg delay
64 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.70%
Nationally in May: 0.92%
Whole year
74.6%
MCO across all twelve months
These figures cover 12,958 departures from Orlando International in May 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
May next to MCO's other months
Against MCO's own year, May ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 74.6%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MCO in May, at 0.70% against 1.81% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 77.6% on time and June 73.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 14,604 | 77.6% | 60 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| May 2026 (this page) | 12,958 | 78.5% | 64 min | 0.70% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 12,541 | 73.3% | 77 min | 1.00% | C |
| July 2026 | 13,136 | 68.2% | 83 min | 2.41% | C |
| August 2026 | 12,085 | 68.3% | 86 min | 2.16% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MCO in May
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.
- 5am–8am2,121 flights93.1%
- 8am–11am2,634 flights90.3%
- 11am–2pm1,875 flights82.1%
- 2pm–5pm2,190 flights71.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,470 flights66.0%
- 8pm–5am1,668 flights64.3%
Scale runs 55% to 100%.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 64.3% on time, against 93.1% 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 2,634 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 80.5% on time and Saturday the weakest at 75.6%, a spread of 5 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MCO in May
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Frontier Airlines arrives on time 86.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 71.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 4,586 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,586 | 71.7% | 52 min | 0.78% | C+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,877 | 82.0% | 80 min | 1.23% | B |
| American Airlines | 1,758 | 75.1% | 77 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,625 | 86.4% | 67 min | 0.25% | A+ |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,555 | 85.0% | 63 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 1,276 | 85.6% | 86 min | 0.31% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 198 | 79.2% | 46 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 46 | 51.4% | 61 min | 19.57% | F− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 37 | 73.0% | 49 min | 0.00% | C+ |
The spread between Frontier and Southwest is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MCO in May
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCO to ATL · Atlanta | 723 | 76.2% | 82 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| MCO to ORD · Chicago | 503 | 73.7% | 74 min | 0.60% | C+ |
| MCO to EWR · Newark | 485 | 86.5% | 91 min | 0.21% | A+ |
| MCO to SJU · San Juan | 476 | 79.7% | 49 min | 0.21% | B+ |
| MCO to PHL · Philadelphia | 449 | 80.8% | 92 min | 0.22% | B+ |
| MCO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 426 | 74.3% | 67 min | 2.82% | C |
| MCO to JFK · New York | 399 | 84.1% | 88 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| MCO to DCA · Washington | 395 | 77.4% | 55 min | 0.76% | B+ |
| MCO to CLT · Charlotte | 395 | 82.0% | 101 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MCO to LGA · New York | 371 | 75.2% | 65 min | 1.89% | B |
| MCO to BWI · Baltimore | 369 | 79.2% | 54 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| MCO to DEN · Denverthin sample | 351 | 85.3% | 56 min | 0.57% | A+ |
| MCO to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 344 | 83.4% | 73 min | 0.29% | B+ |
| MCO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 317 | 82.3% | 55 min | 0.32% | B+ |
| MCO to MIA · Miamithin sample | 301 | 69.7% | 60 min | 0.33% | C+ |
| MCO to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 275 | 83.9% | 92 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| MCO to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 261 | 75.1% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MCO to AUS · Austinthin sample | 238 | 73.8% | 67 min | 1.68% | C |
| MCO to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 238 | 69.6% | 52 min | 2.10% | C |
| MCO to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 229 | 82.9% | 71 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| MCO to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 224 | 81.2% | 57 min | 0.45% | B+ |
| MCO to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 216 | 78.7% | 56 min | 1.85% | B |
| MCO to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 210 | 86.1% | 73 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCO to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 200 | 74.6% | 58 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| MCO to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 197 | 83.2% | 77 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held MCO up in May
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 175,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 175,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. The split is drawn from 175,217 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.70%, below the national 0.92% 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.
6.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%, so 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 May
For a May trip through MCO: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 78.5% on time with 0.70% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Orlando International (MCO), the whole year
- 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 April77.6%
- MCO in June73.3%
- MCO in July68.2%
- MCO in August68.3%
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.