In New York City, over 2,000 flights were delayed or canceled within just 24 hours. The city’s three largest airports were affected: John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
Storms in New York style
New York’s major airports reported Sunday that severe weather has delayed or canceled numerous flights, potentially changing the plans of tens of thousands of travelers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reportedly made the decision to postpone or cancel most of those flights.
According to FlightAware, New York’s three largest airports were among those with the most canceled and delayed flights on Sunday, August 18. Here are the numbers reported:
| Airport | Cancelled arrivals | Cancelled departures | Late arrivals | Delayed departures |
| JFK Airport | 77 | 85 | 327 | 280 |
| Newark | 145 | 179 | 159 | 132 |
| LaGuardia | 179 | 186 | 134 | 101 |
Several hundred more changes occurred on Monday morning, bringing the total number of changes caused by extreme weather in New York to over 2,200.
The FAA published the following statement on its website on Sunday evening:
“Departures to LaGuardia are cancelled due to thunderstorms. The probability of an extension is medium (30-60%)…Departures to John F. Kennedy International are cancelled due to thunderstorms.”
Other major travel cities affected by Sunday’s storms include Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Toronto.
This is reportedly the largest cluster of cancellations in New York City since the global IT CrowdStrike outage a month ago.
The FAA ranked Newark and LaGuardia among the airports with the most flight delays in fiscal year 2023.
Checking in at your airport
Just because business as usual is resuming doesn’t mean you should head to the airport right away. Be sure to check in or contact your airline to find out if flights are continuing as planned.
You can visit the Newark, LaGuardia or JFK websites to check the status of your flight.
Alternatively, you can log into your account with Delta, United, American Airlines, JetBlue, Endeavor Air, Southwest, Spirit, GoJet or Republic Airways. Some airlines should also send you notifications on your mobile device about any updates to your flight, including when you should go to the airport and prepare for boarding.
These decisions are not always easy to make, but conditions on the runway and in the air must always be satisfactory for every airport and airline. A flight cancellation or delay is never a nice feeling, but the good news is that airports make traveler safety their top priority.
What do you think about the weekend delays? Do you think it was safe to operate some flights as scheduled? Let us know in the comments section below!
