Routes › Orlando (MCO) › MCO to BHM
Route · 12 months to July 2026
Orlando to Birmingham: on-time record
Orlando International to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International
BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.
In the 12 months to July 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 849 flights from Orlando (MCO) to Birmingham (BHM), a distance of 479 miles. 69.6% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.
That is 6.4 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 3.4 points below the 73.0% recorded for all departures from MCO. Flights that did arrive were 14.8 min late on average, and 0.6% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 849 flights in the period.
By scheduled departure hour (local time at MCO), flights leaving from 8 am to 9 am had the highest on-time share, 90.6%; those leaving from 10 pm to 11 pm had the lowest, 37.8%.
The on-time share is down 6.4 points on the previous 12 months (76.0%); cancellations moved from 1.2% to 0.6%.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 51%, air carrier 33% and national aviation system 12%.
- On time 69.6%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 29.6%
- Cancelled 0.6%
- Diverted 0.2%
Airlines on the route compared
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WN Southwest Airlines | 849 | 100% | 69.6% | 14.8 min | 0.6% |
Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.
Compared with the airports and the nation
| Measure | MCO to BHM | All departures from MCO | All arrivals at BHM | All reported flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 69.6% | 73.0% | 76.0% | 76.0% |
| Arrived 15+ minutes late | 29.6% | 25.0% | 22.2% | 21.9% |
| Cancelled | 0.6% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.8% |
| Diverted | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| Average arrival delay | 14.8 min | 10.9 min | 7.7 min | 8.1 min |
| Delay minutes per 100 flights | 1,907 | 1,888 | 1,565 | 1,684 |
| Scheduled flights | 849 | 160,601 | 16,924 | 7,043,858 |
12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.
The return direction, BHM to MCO, recorded 78.5% on time across 848 flights in the same period.
Month by month
Year on year: on time 69.6% against 76.0% (−6.4 pts), cancelled 0.6% against 1.2%, flights 849 against 725.
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Seasonality
| Calendar month | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay | Years in sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 195 | 76.9% | 0.0% | 8.3 min | 3 |
| Feb | 175 | 77.7% | 0.0% | 7.1 min | 3 |
| Mar | 211 | 64.0% | 2.4% | 24.4 min | 3 |
| Apr | 219 | 81.3% | 0.0% | 5.3 min | 3 |
| May | 230 | 73.0% | 0.4% | 11.3 min | 3 |
| Jun | 209 | 63.2% | 1.0% | 19.8 min | 3 |
| Jul | 209 | 59.8% | 1.0% | 22.8 min | 3 |
| Aug | 131 | 64.9% | 2.3% | 18.8 min | 3 |
| Sep | 110 | 80.0% | 0.9% | 5.9 min | 3 |
| Oct | 213 | 77.0% | 1.9% | 6.4 min | 3 |
| Nov | 203 | 83.3% | 0.5% | 5.7 min | 3 |
| Dec | 210 | 77.1% | 0.0% | 6.4 min | 3 |
Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.
Other routes from Orlando (MCO)
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCO–ATL | Orlando to Atlanta | 8,202 | 73.9% | 11.2 min | 1.5% |
| MCO–EWR | Orlando to Newark | 6,532 | 71.8% | 13.9 min | 3.1% |
| MCO–ORD | Orlando to Chicago | 6,276 | 69.3% | 15.9 min | 1.8% |
| MCO–SJU | Orlando to San Juan | 6,076 | 72.2% | 13.1 min | 1.1% |
| MCO–PHL | Orlando to Philadelphia | 5,330 | 70.2% | 17.1 min | 2.3% |
| MCO–LGA | Orlando to New York | 5,216 | 65.0% | 18.5 min | 3.9% |
| MCO–DFW | Orlando to Dallas/Fort Worth | 4,903 | 71.3% | 13.1 min | 2.7% |
| MCO–JFK | Orlando to New York | 4,856 | 72.2% | 12.6 min | 3.2% |
All 91 routes and the airport record for MCO · airport record for BHM
Questions and answers
How often are flights from Orlando to Birmingham on time?
69.6% of the 849 flights scheduled from MCO to BHM in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.
Which airline has the highest on-time share from MCO to BHM?
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier with at least 60 flights on the route in the period, so there is no comparison to make.
What causes delays between Orlando and Birmingham?
For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 51%, air carrier 33%, national aviation system 12%, extreme weather 3%, security 1%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.
What time of day has the highest on-time share from MCO?
Flights scheduled to leave MCO from 8 am to 9 am arrived on time 90.6% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 10 pm to 11 pm at 37.8%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.
Is it getting better?
The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 69.6%, down 6.4 points on the previous 12 months (76.0%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, November had the highest on-time share (83.3%) and July the lowest (59.8%).
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.
Provenance
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.