Thunderstorms and inclement weather across the East Coast of the US have caused significant delays for hundreds of travelers. The weather forced airports in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Latest York, and Atlanta to halt nearly all of their incoming flights. Together with this, issues with communication systems within the Washington DC area forced additional flights to be grounded in the world.
Significant East Coast weather
At 20:00 Eastern Standard Time, the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) issued ground stops to a considerable amount of East Coast airports in the US. Right now, Harstfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) still had lively ground stops issued, specifically on account of thunderstorms.
Other major airports were stuck with ground stops that had been issued earlier within the afternoon. This eventually led to a backup that might force ground delays to many other airports on the East Coast at 20:00 EST. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and even Miami International Airport (MIA) were affected by ground delays at the moment. Based on FlightAware, 41% of flights departing from Newark were delayed, and nearly 50% of flights departing LaGuardia were delayed.
Moreover, 32% of flights arriving to Newark were delayed, and 15% of flights headed to LaGuardia were delayed. Newark was coping with a departure delay of over half-hour yet still coping with an arrival delay of 60 minutes at 20:00 EST. LaGuardia was only coping with a departure delay of half-hour right now. The airport released a press release regarding the delays, saying,
“Weather conditions have caused LGA Airport flight disruptions. Check along with your airline to find out the status of your flight.”
Many airlines that frequent the Northeast were subject to delays and even cancelations. United Airlines was the airline that was most affected within the region, where it saw 1035 flights see some variety of delay. That is 36% of its flights. Republic Airlines, which operates service as American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express, saw over 30% of its flights delayed and 18% of its flights get canceled. JetBlue saw the biggest percentage of its flights get delayed, where over 50% of its flights were delayed. That is 531 of the airline’s flights.
Additional delays within the Washington DC area
Together with the numerous variety of delays attributable to inclement weather on the US East Coast, airports within the DC area were affected by communication system issues that caused an extra variety of flights to be grounded. The FAA announced that it had paused departures within the DC area airports on account of the problem being repaired at around 18:30 EST. The essential issue was present in the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, which was forced to change to a backup system.
Photo: Kit Leong | Shutterstock
The affected airports included Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Dulles International Airport (IAD), Baltimore/ Washington International Thurgood Marshal Airport (BWI), and other airports from Richmond, Virginia, to Baltimore, Maryland. Flights coming from Latest York and the flights that were departing the affected airports were clear to proceed. Additional flights coming from across the US were cleared to resume arrival at around 19:00 EST.