Best time to fly out of Orlando (MCO)

The early-flight folk wisdom holds up at Orlando: departures in the 6–8am band left on time 92.2% of the time, against 56.5% in the 8–10pm band. These are historical odds, not forecasts. The records say what happened on this schedule over three years; they know nothing about tomorrow’s thunderstorm.

Data through June 2026 · Bureau of Transportation Statistics

On-time rate by hour and day

On this page, “on time” means a departure that pushed back less than 15 minutes behind its scheduled time — the Bureau of Transportation Statistics definition, and the one airlines are held to.

Share of departures that left on time, by hour band and day of week.
Departure time MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
Before 6am 90 94 94 94 92 91 90
6–8am 91 93 94 93 92 92 91
8–10am 85 89 90 88 87 86 85
10am–12pm 80 85 84 82 81 78 79
12–2pm 74 79 79 77 73 72 72
2–4pm 70 76 74 73 69 67 66
4–6pm 66 71 69 67 66 61 59
6–8pm 61 68 67 62 60 57 53
8–10pm 55 65 62 57 57 53 49
10pm–12am 57 66 69 60 56 57 51
fewer left on time more left on time

The steadiest stretch at MCO was 6–8am — 92.2% of departures left on time across 71,065 flights. The weakest was 8–10pm at 56.5%. 6–8am departures from MCO left on time 92.2% of the time across 71,065 flights; 6–8pm departures, 60.9% across 61,472. That is a gap of 31.3 points, and it is the whole case for the early flight.

The year at MCO

July was the hard month at MCO: 62.4% of departures left on time, across 40,686 flights. November was the easy one at 81.6%. Each month pools three years of that month, so a single bad week does not decide it.

Share of departures that left on time, by calendar month. Best month in green, worst in amber. The hairline sits at the overall rate, 74.7%.
Departure on-time share at MCO by calendar month
Month Share departures that left on time Flights
January 75.3% 41,140
February 78.2% 39,491
March 72.6% 46,218
April 79.2% 42,976
May 72.7% 40,392
June 70.5% 38,950
July 62.4% 40,686
August 68.2% 38,279
September 80.8% 34,285
October 81.1% 39,461
November 81.6% 40,187
December 74.3% 43,020

Airlines at MCO

Every airline with at least 100 departures from MCO, busiest first. These are that airline’s departures from this airport only — its record across the country sits on its own page.

Airline Left on time Typical delay Cancelled Departures
Southwest Airlines 72% 54 min 1.1% 139,876
Delta Air Lines 78.5% 83 min 1.3% 64,207
Spirit Airlines 72% 68 min 2% 61,767
American Airlines 76.2% 93 min 1.7% 56,483
Frontier Airlines 75.8% 76 min 1.7% 55,652
JetBlue Airways 71.6% 81 min 1.7% 54,313
United Airlines 81.5% 86 min 1.5% 42,969
Alaska Airlines 77% 65 min 1.6% 7,799
Republic Airways 83.8% 96 min 0.5% 1,120
Allegiant Air 69.3% 95 min 1.8% 837

Spirit Airlines (through May 2026) stopped filing before June 2026. Its row covers a shorter run of months than the rest of the table, so its figure is not set against the others anywhere on this page.

What delays out of MCO were put down to

Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 119,338 flights that departed MCO and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 41% put down to late-arriving aircraft and 29.1% to airline operations.

Late-arriving aircraft 41% Airline operations 29.1% Air traffic & airport volume 23% Severe weather 6.6% Security 0.4%
  • Late-arriving aircraft 41%
  • Airline operations 29.1%
  • Air traffic & airport volume 23%
  • Severe weather 6.6%
  • Security 0.4%

Late-arriving aircraft is the knock-on category: the plane came in late, so it went out late again. It is why a 7am problem in Newark is still a problem in Denver at dinnertime, and why it is usually the biggest slice on the bar.

If you are connecting through MCO

Of 485,092 scheduled arrivals into MCO, 74.3% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 115,119 arrivals that ran late, 50.9% were no more than 45 minutes behind — which is the difference between a tight connection and a new boarding pass.

Work out a specific layover — pick the airport and the minutes you have, and the tool reads the same arrival records back as a share.

Busiest routes out of MCO

Ranked by flights, with the share that arrived on time at the far end. Where a route carries enough flights for a page of its own the chip goes there; otherwise it goes to the destination airport.

MCO in one number

Orlando (MCO)

Rank 10 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: 6–8am. Hardest month: July.

July 2023–June 2026 · 477,794 departures flown

74.7% of departures left on time

Questions about MCO

What is the best time of day to fly out of Orlando?
6–8am. Departures in that band left on time 92.2% of the time across 71,065 flights, July 2023 through June 2026 — the best of the ten bands in the day. The 8–10pm band was the weakest at 56.5%.
Is the early flight out of MCO really more reliable?
6–8am departures from MCO left on time 92.2% of the time across 71,065 flights; 6–8pm departures, 60.9% across 61,472. That is a gap of 31.3 points, and it is the whole case for the early flight.
What is the worst month to fly out of MCO?
July: 62.4% of the departures that flew left on time, with 40,686 scheduled. November was the other end of the year at 81.6%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
Which airline is most on time at MCO?
Republic Airways — 83.8% of its 1,120 departures from MCO left on time. Allegiant Air sat at the other end at 69.3% over 837 flights. Only airlines with at least 100 departures here are ranked. Airlines that stopped filing before June 2026 are left out of the ranking — their figures cover a shorter run of months than the rest of the table.
How often are flights cancelled at MCO?
1.5% of scheduled departures were cancelled over July 2023 through June 2026. Cancellations are counted against everything scheduled, not against everything that flew — a rate that looks small still adds up to real people in a rebooking line.