Flight Delays and Cancellations Reach Into the Weekend, Stranding Hundreds of Thousands of Passengers

A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport

Massive flight delays and cancellations continued into Sunday, after tens of thousands of flights were cancelled over the period leading into the weekend, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers worldwide.

As of noon EDT Sunday, there had been 732 flight cancellations on Sunday within, into, or departing from the United States, with an additional 2,855 delays.  On a global scale, flight delays were 14,749, with 1,796 cancellations.

On Saturday, the picture was far worse, with 23,896 delays globally and 2,067 cancellations, while in the United States, there had been 7,246 delays and 657 cancellations.

In the United States, the last two days of the workweek portended what was to come.  On Friday, there were over 1,500 cancellations, making it one of the worst travel days in the past two months, while 1,248 cancellations were posted on Thursday.

On Saturday alone, some 29% of flights operated by both American Airlines and United Airlines were delayed. Both were forced to cancel 4% of their flights as well.

Airlines blamed both weather and staffing shortages for the massive number of delays and cancellations.

“We are working through a variety of weather-related challenges that are affecting a number of our larger operations across the country this week,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement on Friday.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)