Route profile
MCO→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Salt Lake City, 1,931 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 59% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,311 flights. How this is calculated
MCO → SLC arrives on time 79.8% of the time; the return trip, SLC → MCO, arrives on time 80.4% of the time.
MCO → SLC spends 28.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,931-mile trip: 20.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 7.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 97% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 82.3% of the time, against 58.8% for JetBlue, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCO to SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 89.3% arrive on time, 14.8 points ahead of the 74.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.2 points.
MCO to SLC struggles most at 2 PM: 67.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.8 points behind the 74.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
MCO to SLC holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 81.8% on time to their 77.3%, a 4.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
June is kinder to MCO to SLC than to routes of similar length: 79.0% on time against 73.0%, 6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
In July, MCO to SLC runs 4.4 points below routes of similar length, 66.0% on time to 70.4%.
MCO to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 74.5% | +14.8 pts | 363 here, 50,845 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 67.9% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | −6.8 pts | 209 here, 47,598 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 81.8% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +4.5 pts | 754 here, 161,173 there |
| Month: June | 79.0% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | +6.0 pts | 409 here, 98,823 there |
| Month: July | 66.0% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | −4.4 pts | 580 here, 132,873 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 1,931 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 5,311 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 0.70% of the time and diverts 0.32% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,257 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,311 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.6% of the time, against 69.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.9% on time from 324 flights
- 7 AM: 91.4% on time from 805 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 91.7% on time from 122 flights
- 10 AM: 84.4% on time from 245 flights
- 11 AM: 85.6% on time from 742 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 89.3% on time from 369 flights
- 2 PM: 67.9% on time from 209 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 71.6% on time from 482 flights
- 5 PM: 71.7% on time from 492 flights
- 6 PM: 71.2% on time from 272 flights
- 7 PM: 70.5% on time from 966 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MCO → SLC 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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → SLC, at 38.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 69.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,396 | 82.3% | 0.82% | -9 min | 6.6% |
| Spirit Airlines | 488 | 72.0% | 0.20% | -4 min | 9.9% |
| JetBlue | 318 | 58.8% | 0.00% | 4 min | 19.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 84.5% of the 5,202 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 23.5 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.9%
- Feb: 83.3%
- Mar: 78.3%
- Apr: 85.7%
- May: 75.3%
- Jun: 79.0%
- Jul: 66.0%
- Aug: 76.2%
- Sep: 81.5%
- Oct: 88.1%
- Nov: 87.0%
- Dec: 83.6%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 22.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 55.0% from 175 flights
- August 2023: 77.6% from 176 flights
- September 2023: 73.8% from 168 flights
- October 2023: 88.1% from 176 flights
- November 2023: 86.1% from 165 flights
- December 2023: 83.7% from 190 flights
- January 2024: 75.5% from 191 flights
- February 2024: 80.5% from 174 flights
- March 2024: 76.3% from 190 flights
- April 2024: 84.5% from 174 flights
- May 2024: 68.7% from 166 flights
- June 2024: 78.2% from 165 flights
- July 2024: 65.5% from 159 flights
- August 2024: 72.6% from 129 flights
- September 2024: 82.8% from 129 flights
- October 2024: 92.4% from 140 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- December 2024: 85.0% from 134 flights
- January 2025: 82.2% from 129 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2025: 78.3% from 129 flights
- April 2025: 87.6% from 121 flights
- May 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- June 2025: 79.9% from 136 flights
- July 2025: 76.2% from 144 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- September 2025: 90.5% from 127 flights
- October 2025: 83.3% from 121 flights
- November 2025: 89.9% from 120 flights
- December 2025: 82.1% from 135 flights
- January 2026: 80.5% from 125 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2026: 81.3% from 128 flights
- April 2026: 85.4% from 151 flights
- May 2026: 86.7% from 136 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- July 2026: 70.3% from 120 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.5% against 82.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,311 MCO → SLC 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