MCO → DEN Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · MCONo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Orlando airport profile →

Destination · DENNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Denver airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

65/ 100Good

Better than 48% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 14,350 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

77.4%

10,953 of 14,145

Cancellation rate

1.11%

160 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 6.0 min

Severe delays

7.6%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

66 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

14,350

3 carriers

MCO → DEN arrives on time 77.4% of the time; the return trip, DEN → MCO, arrives on time 76.2% of the time.

MCO → DEN spends 28.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,546-mile trip: 18.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 9.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.

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 91% of 4,023 comparable routes.

89.6% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 58.8% 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.

Why MCO → DEN flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

MCO → DEN cancelled 160 of 14,350 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 90. The reason filed most often was the airline, 41.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 214 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline41.9%

Weather40.6%

Air traffic17.5%

Security0.0%

Of 160 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 214

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

67 cancellations, 41.9% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 221

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

65 cancellations, 40.6% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 513

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

28 cancellations, 17.5% of the total.

Security—

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.

160 coded cancellations were recorded on MCO → DEN; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

46 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late7.6%

Typical delay when late66 min

Cancelled1.11%

Landed somewhere else0.31%

Percentiles over 14,350 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DEN after arriving from MCO.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, MCO → DEN arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	38%	Likely to miss
45 min	22%	High risk
60 min	14%	Some risk
90 min	7.4%	Some risk
120 min	4.5%	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 1.11% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 14,145 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 14,350 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

MCO → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.6% of the time, against 58.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.8 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (MCO).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.3 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for MCO to DEN by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 9 PM (469 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for MCO to DEN. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	89.2% on time241 flights	92.6% on time136 flights	89.3% on time123 flights	89.0% on time265 flights	93.0% on time248 flights	91.1% on time147 flights	91.0% on time238 flights
7 AM–8 AM	48 flights, too few to score	91 flights, too few to score	91 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score
8 AM–9 AM	87.8% on time256 flights	93.1% on time233 flights	93.6% on time236 flights	86.3% on time235 flights	87.9% on time237 flights	88.5% on time230 flights	84.8% on time231 flights
9 AM–10 AM	86.3% on time120 flights	86 flights, too few to score	88.2% on time120 flights	80.5% on time121 flights	117 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	117 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	80.3% on time180 flights	79.7% on time138 flights	88.8% on time162 flights	82.1% on time176 flights	81.7% on time176 flights	82.8% on time176 flights	84.0% on time176 flights
11 AM–12 PM	26 flights, too few to score	42 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	46 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	83.1% on time249 flights	77.9% on time251 flights	84.5% on time253 flights	84.7% on time236 flights	82.0% on time258 flights	84.7% on time220 flights	84.7% on time237 flights
1 PM–2 PM	41 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	45 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	41 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	73 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	27 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	77.1% on time184 flights	81.1% on time187 flights	73.2% on time194 flights	76.7% on time177 flights	77.5% on time186 flights	69.9% on time197 flights	73.1% on time173 flights
4 PM–5 PM	110 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	58.6% on time133 flights	116 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	65.9% on time189 flights	69.5% on time152 flights	72.9% on time193 flights	62.4% on time191 flights	66.3% on time192 flights	63.5% on time183 flights	64.2% on time179 flights
6 PM–7 PM	41 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	41 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	78 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	118 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	63.8% on time228 flights	80.1% on time146 flights	69.1% on time199 flights	64.0% on time215 flights	68.1% on time219 flights	75.1% on time180 flights	66.0% on time210 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM89.6%

9 AM–12 PM84.1%

12–3 PM79.9%

3–6 PM69.1%

6–9 PM65.1%

9 PM–5 AM58.8%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why MCO → DEN runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft38.3%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline29.1%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control24.8%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather7.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MCO → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → DEN, at 38.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.6% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 58.8%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of MCO to DEN: 3.2 times the normal rate at MCO and 4.0 times at DEN. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: MCO 4.0% against 1.3%, DEN 2.8% against 0.7%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from MCO and DEN in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	MCO	DEN
Cancelled in bad weather	4.0%	2.8%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.3%	0.7%
Arrived on time, bad weather	54.1%	51.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	76.3%	78.8%
Departures in bad weather	33,297	92,610

Of the carriers on this route, Southwest Airlines (3.3% cancelled against 4.4% for the other carriers at MCO) cancelled the fewest departures from MCO in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (4.7% cancelled against 3.9% for the other carriers at MCO) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at MCO

All departures from MCO

Cancellation rates in bad weather at MCO for the airlines that fly MCO to DEN, against the other carriers at MCO in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Southwest Airlines	9,331	3.3%below the others	4.4%
United Airlines	2,988	3.3%below the others	4.2%
Frontier Airlines	3,840	4.7%above the others	3.9%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from MCO and DEN, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from MCO on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: MCO (airlines), DEN, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Southwest Airlines	5,892	73.2%	0.83%	-1 min	7.9%
United Airlines	5,731	82.4%	1.24%	-9 min	6.5%
Frontier Airlines	2,727	76.4%	1.47%	-8 min	9.2%

Southwest Airlines flew 41.1% of the 14,350 flights listed.

United Airlines arrived on time 9.2 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
UA1520 United Airlines	12:25 PM	1,103	86.6%
F93311 Frontier Airlines	8:59 PM	883	70.8%
F91733 Frontier Airlines	6:00 AM	816	85.5%

UA1520 (12:25 PM) arrived on time 86.6% of the time, 15.8 points more often than F93311 (8:59 PM) at 70.8%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon76.6%

Tue79.5%

Wed81.2%

Thu76.1%

Fri77.8%

Sat76.1%

Sun75.2%

Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.0 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 17.3 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.2% against 79.2% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 14,350 MCO → DEN 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

MCO airport DEN airport Return direction DEN → MCO

MCO→DEN

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why MCO → DEN flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why MCO → DEN runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at MCO

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology