LGW→MCO

Norse Atlantic UK is the most punctual carrier on the departing leg at 77.5% across 253 flights, and British Airways the least at 71.1% across 558. 6 points between them is a modest gap, the kind a bad week can erase. No carrier here cancels unusually often; the highest cancellation rate on the route is British Airways's 2.1%.

Flights are scheduled departures in the CAA file, operated plus cancelled; on time is within 15 minutes of the planned off-block time. The DOT count below includes the return direction and may differ.

July was the weakest month for departures at 61.5% on time and October the strongest at 85.5%, a swing of 24 points across the year. That is a wide seasonal range, wider than the gap between the best and worst carriers, so the month you fly matters more than the airline you pick. The DOT's count puts the busiest month at 186 flights in July 2025 and the thinnest at 78 in February 2026, so capacity follows the summer peak.

Coming the other way, 71.7% of arrivals from Orlando International into London Gatwick reached the gate within 15 minutes of schedule, across 811 flights. 28% arrived more than 15 minutes early, which is normal for an eastbound crossing with the jet stream behind it and a schedule padded for the days it is not. 1.78% of those arrivals were three hours or more late, the figure that decides a compensation claim on the return trip, and 2.3% were cancelled.

EUROCONTROL's figures for London Gatwick as a whole, every airline and every destination: 69.2% of departures and 71.9% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.5% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 64.9% for departures, 4 points worse than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.5 minutes per arriving flight this year, 1.6 over the last week.

Every US route from London Gatwick, and its full punctuality record

Orlando International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 74.6% of its 159,940 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running a little over an hour late, and 1.81% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at MCO reaches a flight from LGW just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Orlando International (MCO) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Every flight that departs London Gatwick falls under UK261, the retained version of the EU regulation, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at Orlando International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed £520 (£260 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from MCO is covered only when the carrier is UK or EU based. The sector is about 4,344 miles, 6,989 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

Booked blind, LGW to MCO is a C route by the departure record. Booked with the numbers, it is Norse Atlantic UK at 77.5%, outside July if the dates are flexible, and a connection at MCO with at least two hours in hand, because 6% of departures were an hour or more late and immigration comes before any onward flight.

• London Gatwick (LGW): every US route
• Orlando International (MCO) delay statistics
• LGW to JFK, New York (JFK)906 flights
• LGW to TPA, Tampa (TPA)625 flights
• LGW to BOS, Boston (BOS)311 flights
• LGW to LAX, Los Angeles (LAX)168 flights
• LHR to MCO, from London1,232 flights
• MAN to MCO, from Manchester1,208 flights
• FRA to MCO, from Frankfurt638 flights
• DUB to MCO, from Dublin552 flights
• Every Europe-to-US route and airport

The departure record is the CAA's, measured at London Gatwick; the arrival record for the return leg is also measured at London Gatwick. Nothing here is measured at MCO, where the DOT keeps no record of international flights.