Route profile
MCO→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Austin, 994 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 35% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,567 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCO → AUS arrives on time 74.4% of the time; the return trip, AUS → MCO, arrives on time 75.2% of the time.
MCO → AUS spends 26.0 minutes on the ground on a 994-mile trip: 17.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 8.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
92.4% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 55.8% for 9 PM–5 AM.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCO to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to AUS struggles most at 10 PM: 53.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.6 points behind the 64.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.5 points.
MCO to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 95.0% arrive on time, 4.5 points ahead of the 90.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
Saturday is the day MCO to AUS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.8% on time where they average 77.5%, 5.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
In January, MCO to AUS runs 6.1 points below routes of similar length, 71.4% on time to 77.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MCO to AUS arrive on time 73.4% of the time, 2.3 points below the 75.7% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4 points.
MCO to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 53.2% | routes of similar length | 64.8% | −11.6 pts | 141 here, 33,343 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 95.0% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | +4.5 pts | 618 here, 225,605 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −5.7 pts | 1,055 here, 405,482 there |
| Month: January | 71.4% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −6.1 pts | 657 here, 232,957 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 73.4% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −2.3 pts | 5,638 here, 721,243 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 994 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why MCO → AUS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MCO → AUS cancelled 80 of 8,567 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 107. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 56.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 190 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 80 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
45 cancellations, 56.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
25 cancellations, 31.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
10 cancellations, 12.5% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
80 coded cancellations were recorded on MCO → AUS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
50 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 8,567 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.93% of the time and diverts 0.21% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,469 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,567 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → AUS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.4% of the time, against 55.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 36.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.0% on time from 624 flights
- 7 AM: 91.5% on time from 653 flights
- 8 AM: 90.4% on time from 376 flights
- 9 AM: 80.6% on time from 516 flights
- 10 AM: 79.4% on time from 608 flights
- 11 AM: 77.8% on time from 435 flights
- 12 PM: 80.7% on time from 1,298 flights
- 1 PM: 65.6% on time from 486 flights
- 2 PM: 69.6% on time from 522 flights
- 3 PM: 64.1% on time from 457 flights
- 4 PM: 60.5% on time from 498 flights
- 5 PM: 66.3% on time from 530 flights
- 6 PM: 56.5% on time from 488 flights
- 7 PM: 60.1% on time from 348 flights
- 8 PM: 65.9% on time from 344 flights
- 9 PM: 57.3% on time from 237 flights
- 10 PM: 53.2% on time from 142 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCO → AUS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MCO → AUS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → AUS, at 39.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.4% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 55.8%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 5,694 | 73.4% | 0.79% | -1 min | 7.8% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,239 | 78.4% | 1.13% | -8 min | 9.4% |
| Spirit Airlines | 734 | 72.8% | 1.50% | -2 min | 11.1% |
| American Airlines | 660 | 74.1% | 0.91% | -6 min | 10.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 240 | 81.8% | 1.67% | -14 min | 5.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 66.5% of the 8,567 flights listed.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 9.0 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.4%
- Feb: 80.2%
- Mar: 73.3%
- Apr: 79.5%
- May: 68.6%
- Jun: 71.8%
- Jul: 63.9%
- Aug: 72.2%
- Sep: 80.1%
- Oct: 80.3%
- Nov: 83.0%
- Dec: 76.5%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 54.9% from 249 flights
- August 2023: 71.0% from 224 flights
- September 2023: 72.2% from 170 flights
- October 2023: 75.7% from 252 flights
- November 2023: 77.3% from 256 flights
- December 2023: 74.1% from 268 flights
- January 2024: 57.9% from 243 flights
- February 2024: 80.2% from 212 flights
- March 2024: 61.6% from 268 flights
- April 2024: 75.7% from 262 flights
- May 2024: 66.3% from 276 flights
- June 2024: 70.7% from 263 flights
- July 2024: 61.1% from 273 flights
- August 2024: 73.8% from 200 flights
- September 2024: 85.5% from 188 flights
- October 2024: 89.8% from 189 flights
- November 2024: 89.4% from 189 flights
- December 2024: 78.9% from 199 flights
- January 2025: 81.9% from 183 flights
- February 2025: 81.8% from 177 flights
- March 2025: 79.5% from 244 flights
- April 2025: 86.0% from 222 flights
- May 2025: 65.9% from 227 flights
- June 2025: 69.6% from 247 flights
- July 2025: 67.5% from 253 flights
- August 2025: 71.9% from 174 flights
- September 2025: 82.2% from 157 flights
- October 2025: 77.8% from 212 flights
- November 2025: 84.1% from 229 flights
- December 2025: 77.2% from 241 flights
- January 2026: 77.0% from 241 flights
- February 2026: 78.9% from 229 flights
- March 2026: 79.1% from 288 flights
- April 2026: 77.7% from 239 flights
- May 2026: 73.8% from 238 flights
- June 2026: 74.6% from 291 flights
- July 2026: 71.0% from 294 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.9% against 78.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,567 MCO → AUS flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed