Route profile
SLC→MCO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Orlando, 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 70% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,310 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → MCO arrives on time 80.4% of the time; the return trip, MCO → SLC, arrives on time 79.8% of the time.
SLC → MCO spends 29.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,931-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 11.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 90% of 4,023 comparable routes.
83.8% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 74.5% for 12–3 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 SLC to MCO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to MCO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 80.7% arrive on time, 7.2 points ahead of the 73.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
SLC to MCO struggles most at 6 AM: 84.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.9 points behind the 89.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
SLC to MCO holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.2% on time to their 77.3%, a 5.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
November is kinder to SLC to MCO than to routes of similar length: 91.0% on time against 83.4%, 7.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
SLC to MCO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 80.7% | routes of similar length | 73.5% | +7.2 pts | 1,112 here, 69,496 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 84.9% | routes of similar length | 89.8% | −4.9 pts | 568 here, 70,523 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +5.9 pts | 742 here, 161,185 there |
| Month: November | 91.0% | routes of similar length | 83.4% | +7.6 pts | 399 here, 83,888 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
36 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 5,310 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCO after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.3% | 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 0.83% of the time and diverts 0.72% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,228 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,310 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → MCO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.8% of the time, against 74.5% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 84.9% on time from 572 flights
- 7 AM: 82.1% on time from 209 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 80.3% on time from 972 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 77.3% on time from 1,065 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 77.1% on time from 141 flights
- 2 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 80.7% on time from 1,126 flights
- 6 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 83.0% on time from 959 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SLC → MCO runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → MCO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 4,394 | 80.7% | 0.82% | -5 min | 5.8% |
| Spirit Airlines | 488 | 81.9% | 0.41% | -12 min | 5.6% |
| JetBlue | 319 | 77.1% | 1.57% | -8 min | 5.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 84.5% of the 5,201 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 1.57% of its flights here against 0.41% for Spirit Airlines.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 4.8 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
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 6.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.0%
- Feb: 86.8%
- Mar: 80.6%
- Apr: 83.0%
- May: 78.5%
- Jun: 71.4%
- Jul: 69.0%
- Aug: 76.2%
- Sep: 84.0%
- Oct: 86.4%
- Nov: 91.0%
- Dec: 83.2%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 70.9% from 175 flights
- August 2023: 82.2% from 176 flights
- September 2023: 84.8% from 168 flights
- October 2023: 90.3% from 176 flights
- November 2023: 90.2% from 165 flights
- December 2023: 86.3% from 190 flights
- January 2024: 75.9% from 191 flights
- February 2024: 87.4% from 174 flights
- March 2024: 82.8% from 189 flights
- April 2024: 84.5% from 175 flights
- May 2024: 75.9% from 166 flights
- June 2024: 68.9% from 165 flights
- July 2024: 66.7% from 159 flights
- August 2024: 68.8% from 129 flights
- September 2024: 79.1% from 129 flights
- October 2024: 85.6% from 140 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- December 2024: 82.8% from 134 flights
- January 2025: 81.4% from 129 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2025: 82.9% from 129 flights
- April 2025: 74.4% from 121 flights
- May 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- June 2025: 65.9% from 135 flights
- July 2025: 68.1% from 144 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- September 2025: 88.2% from 127 flights
- October 2025: 81.7% from 121 flights
- November 2025: 95.8% from 120 flights
- December 2025: 79.1% from 135 flights
- January 2026: 81.3% from 125 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2026: 74.8% from 128 flights
- April 2026: 88.1% from 151 flights
- May 2026: 89.4% from 135 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- July 2026: 70.3% from 120 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.8% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — improving by 5.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,310 SLC → MCO 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