That totaled 181.9 million weather delay minutes, or the equivalent of almost 346 years of weather delays.

But that can cause delays if multiple planes are lined up waiting to take off.įrom October 2009 through September 2019, the nation's 30 major airports accounted for 2.8 million weather-related flight delays, according to a previous analysis by. Planes can use a longer runway to gain more speed at takeoff when it's hot. 'Sometimes when it gets really hot, they might ask for volunteers to give up their seats,' Knightly said, or occasionally cargo might be bumped.įor that reason, it’s always a good idea to have your seat assignment ahead of time and check in as early as possible. The lighter the plane is, the easier it is to achieve lift. (MORE: Summer Begins With Heat Wave and It Will Break More Records ) 'The hotter the air, the less dense it is,' Knightly said.Īirplanes, especially heavy ones like those used by commercial airlines, need more power to achieve lift in less dense air. The denser the air, the more lift it gives the plane. An airplane’s lift – the force that holds it aloft – is affected by the density of the air. The afternoon and early evening are typically the warmest parts of the day.Īnd if you are on the first flight of the day, the aircraft will most likely already be at the airport and subject to fewer weather delays.īesides storms, heat can also affect air travel. 'A lot of times in the summer you’re getting daytime heating thunderstorms,' meteorologist Dina Knightly, who has worked in the airline industry, said Monday.

(MORE: Temperature Outlook for the Rest of Summer )ĭuring those months, it's always better to buy a ticket on a morning flight. Going back five years, the numbers show that June through August are among the top months for weather delays each year. June 2021 was the month with the most during that time period. flight delays, according to data from the U.S. In the year ending in March, the most recent data available, weather accounted for about one-quarter of all U.S. That's also often when weather delays are most likely. June and July in particular are the peak months for severe thunderstorms with high winds. Weather issues are common for air travelers in the stormy summertime. Similar delays were seen over Memorial Day. 'A variety of factors continue to affect our operations, including challenges with air-traffic control, weather and unscheduled absences in some work groups,' Delta officials told the Journal. In all, more than 5,000 flights were canceled over the weekend, and thousands more were delayed, the Wall Street Journal reported.ĭelta Air Lines, the hardest hit, cited several reasons for the chaotic weekend. airline industry says is a shortage of pilots left more than 1,400 flights canceled, according to the Associated Press.Īnd that was just the beginning. The number of passengers on Friday combined with weather delays and what the U.S. (MORE: It's the Peak Time For Damaging Thunderstorm Winds, Including Derechos ) TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein tweeted that it was the highest volume since Nov. TSA workers screened more than 2.4 million people heading into the Father's Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend. A huge surge in summer travel is coming at the same time that weather delays are typically among some of the highest of the year.įriday was the busiest day of 2022 so far at United States airports, according to numbers from the Transportation Security Administration.

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