The Airlines And Airports With The Highest Rates Of Disruptions

Topline

Airlines and travelers are preparing for a chaotic July 4 weekend filled with travel disruptions amid a surge in flight demand and airline staff shortages—these are the airports and carriers where flyers may face the highest chances for cancellations and delays, and the lowest, based on flight data from the past three months from FlightAware.

Passengers wait in line to be screened at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint.

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Key Facts

Airports in the crowded airspace of New York City—where weather delays can have a larger impact—have been among the most severely impacted from April 1 through Wednesday, with 4.4% of flights from New Jersey’s Newark International Airport canceled—the highest rate among the 50 busiest airports in the country—and 26% delayed, while LaGuardia Airport had 3.8% of its flights canceled and 20% delayed, according to FlightAware.

The second-highest share of flights canceled was at New Orleans International Airport (4.3%), with 22% delayed, while Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., ranked fourth for cancellations (3.0%) after LaGuardia, with 19% of flights delayed.

Other Southern airports have been heavily impacted: 28% of flights have been delayed since April 1 at Southwest Airlines-dominated Dallas Love Field—the highest percentage in the country—with 2.8% canceled, while Orlando International—in Florida, where Alton Aviation Consultancy Managing Director Umang Gupta told Forbes that Air Traffic Control has been stretched thin, leading to bottlenecks—had 26% of flights delayed and 2.1% canceled.

Milder weather brought fewer flight disruptions in several regions, including in Hawaii, where airports were least impacted, with 0.4% of flights canceled at Maui’s Kahului Airport—the lowest rate of the 50 busiest airports—and 12% of flights delayed, as well as Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah, which only had 0.9% of flights canceled and 14% delayed.

The worst-hit airline has been JetBlue, which flies extensively through congested hubs in the Northeast: It has canceled 4% of its flights since April 1—a higher rate than any other major airline—while it also had the longest average delay time of 63 minutes, with 34.5% of flights delayed.

Spirit Airlines followed closely behind JetBlue, canceling 3.7% of its flights, while Allegiant Air canceled 3.4%.

Hawaiian and Southwest Airlines had the lowest rates of cancellations—0.1% and 1.1% of their respective flights.

Big Number

More than 30,000. That’s how many flights major U.S. airlines have canceled since the beginning of April, roughly 2.3% of scheduled flights, and more than twice the rate of canceled flights over the same period last year. More than 300,000 flights have been delayed since April.

Tangent

JetBlue announced in April it would cancel anywhere from 8% to 10% of its summer flights because of severe staffing challenges, one of the largest cutbacks aviation analyst Robert Mann told Forbes he has “ever seen” before. The majority of recent cancellations were due to “lengthy air traffic control delay programs” sparked by weather and other ATC staffing issues, Derek Dombrowski, manager of corporate communications at JetBlue, said in a statement, adding 70% of its flights go through the “congested weather-prone northeast corridor.”

Crucial Quote

“If you had your druthers and your schedule permits it, you certainly want to fly early in the day. That’s your best chance of getting an on-time departure,” Mann, the president of airline consulting company R.W. Mann & Company, told Forbes, noting flight delays can accumulate over the course of the day.

Contra

Working in travelers’ favor over the July 4 weekend: weather may not be a huge factor, with skies looking mostly clear apart from some rain forecast in Oklahoma and Texas, David Banmiller, former chief executive of Aloha, Sun Country and Pan American Airlines, told Forbes.

Key Background

A bevy of factors have fueled thousands of flight cancellations and delays over the past several months, including a surge in leisure travel by Americans following the relaxation of pandemic restrictions, staffing shortfalls at airlines and Air Traffic Control centers, and bad weather conditions, according to experts. Airlines have “overcut and under-planned” in terms of forecasting “pent-up demand,” Banmiller said. Many airlines are facing shortages of pilots—some of whom accepted early retirement packages during the pandemic, Gupta said—and other employees after airlines cut staff due to sharply lower demand for travel because of the coronavirus. Carriers have rushed to hire more staff in recent weeks to address the disruptions, and trimmed their summer schedules, while Delta Air Lines waived all fare differences and change fees for flights during the holiday weekend as the company predicts numbers of passengers will surge to pre-pandemic levels. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned airlines this week they must “be prepared to support the tickets” they sell as thousands of Americans have complained to the federal government in recent weeks about disruptions.

What To Watch For

More flight chaos after July 4. It’s going to be a “tough and ugly summer” as airlines attempt to respond to a continued spike in demand for travel while trying to staff up and train employees, Banmiller predicted.

The Airlines And Airports With The Highest Rates Of Disruptions–And The Least