If you've traveled by air at all since the pandemic, you've likely encountered at least one flight delay or cancellation. These circumstances could seem to occur more frequently now than they did before the pandemic.
According to data from FlightAware, conditions are largely the same as they were. Delays, though, continue to be annoying. Compared to the same period in 2019, 21.9% more flights in the United States were delayed between January 1 and April 9 of this year, with each delay lasting an average of 50 minutes.
Flight delays can occur for a variety of reasons. Both unpredictable phenomena like the weather and airline-controllable factors like staffing and scheduling can cause delays.
Here are a few of the factors that contribute to flight delays.
Weather
Even though it might seem obvious, the weather generally causes delays in flights. The most recent month for which data are available from the Department of Transportation is January, and it shows that weather-related delays accounted for more than 25% of aircraft delays.
Because of the humidity of unstable air, thunderstorms frequently occur across the nation in the spring and summer. Operations may be hindered by winter weather for days at a time.
Even isolated weather occurrences can cause turbulence in the air. However, more erratic weather owing to climate change has caused flights to be tenser all year round, with peaks in some months.
For instance, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board, turbulence was a factor in 71% of all in-flight weather injuries globally between 2000 and 2011. Data indicated that the most turbulent months were February, July, and December.
Airlines try to steer clear of turbulence by rerouting flights around thunderstorms since it can be dangerous. Airspace becomes constrained as a result, which increases delays.
According to Isabel Smith, a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Reading who is researching aviation turbulence, "Airlines try to avoid turbulence as much as they can, which frequently results in longer flight times and longer wait times." Airlines use more fuel as a result, which increases the amount of carbon dioxide they release into the environment.
Even so, avoiding disruptive weather isn't always practicable because the most dangerous type of turbulence, clean air, is invisible to onboard flight radar equipment. As a result, it may strike an aircraft abruptly and without prior notice.
Thunderstorms can delay flights in addition to obstructing their flight routes, which makes it harder for other flights to take off and land. Due to the inability to load, unload, fuel, or maintain aircraft, this might also result in ramp closures in a domino effect.
Summertime travel is frequently hampered. More than 500,000 flights (22.3% of all flights) were delayed between Memorial Day and Labor Day of last year, with frequent thunderstorms among the reasons, according to FlightAware statistics.
Major snowfalls can often be predicted by meteorologists days in advance, giving airlines time to make necessary changes to their flight schedules. Summer thunderstorms, on the other hand, are more difficult to locate and time precisely.
The chance of a delayed flight throughout the summer only increases with the busy travel season.
Airline schedules and staffing
The pandemic's ongoing staffing shortages and aircraft limitations have added to the list of factors that cause flight delays in the United States. Pilots have found this to be particularly difficult.
Even though there are fewer flights than in 2019, several airlines are still coping with manpower and aircraft reductions. This makes keeping up with ambitious airline schedules a challenging task in and of itself. The weather and other operational concerns make this more difficult.
As a result, there are few spare crews and planes available to aid in the recovery mission. The key to an airline restoring its schedule within a few hours vs needing to mass-cancel a considerable number of flights over a multi-day recovery campaign can be found in having adequate staff employees.
Additionally, overbooked flights limit airlines' options for responding to erratic events like severe weather. When cancellations start to accumulate, it takes longer to accommodate everyone because the flight departing the following day can already be fully booked.
Over Christmas, when cross-country winter storm Elliott struck during a time that is already infamously crowded for travel, this exact circumstance came to light. As a result, all significant U.S. carriers experienced delays, but Southwest Airlines in particular struggled to recover in the weeks that followed. Southwest experienced its biggest operational meltdown to date with this.
Four months later, the Dallas-based airline's decision to cancel over 17,000 flights during the spring break prompted it to spend $1.3 billion on upgrading its antiquated technology and winter operations. Along with adding more winter employees, it increased the number of de-icing trucks, engine covers, and heaters. To accommodate increased call numbers, the airline has promised to update its crew scheduling and customer phone systems.
Recent examples of what occurs when weather and airline operations clash, creating a perfect storm, include the Southwest operational meltdown.
Problems can also occur when crew members miss connecting flights during the day, exceeding their allotted duty hours before completing all of the flights they were supposed to work.
Duty hour regulations encourage safety even though passengers may find this to be a disagreeable condition. They are designed to reduce the possibility of fatigued pilots and flight attendants making mistakes. Taking earlier flights is one approach to reduce the chance of this specific delay since it predominantly impacts planes later in the day.
Air traffic control staffing
The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the nation's air traffic control system, is also experiencing some strain as a result of a lack of staffing at air traffic control sites, as stated by U.S. airlines in a call to the government in June.
The operational performance of ATC sites may suffer from a reduced workforce. When fewer flights are permitted to pass through certain areas or land at airports due to safety concerns, delays for all airlines can occur at once.
One industry insider at least believes that the FAA and ATC are to fault for persistent airline delays.
According to Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and owner of an eponymous consulting firm, "the basic driver of delays is random and momentary demand for ATC services exceeding FAA ability to ensure safety and separation without imposing delays, en route, in the terminal area, and on the airport surface." In contrast, if airlines and business aviation operators system-optimized their day-to-day operations, it would aid the FAA in achieving its safety and separation goals and most of this delay, which increases airline costs and causes customer annoyance, could be avoided.
Technical difficulties
Of course, there are those unforeseen technical problems that might derail a flight that would otherwise be seamless and on time.
A pilot, technician, or other support staff member may identify a problem during preflight tests. For instance, a malfunctioning button or lighting component could prevent an indication light from turning on. The emergency equipment may not be set up correctly or there may be an overhead locker that won't lock. Another possibility is that there is a fault that points to something more serious, such as a malfunctioning flight control system.
On-site airline maintenance personnel are sometimes able to swiftly identify and, if necessary, resolve problems, depending on the problem and the airport.
Sometimes these problems necessitate replacing the aircraft because they can't be fixed at the gate. You should expect a longer wait if such is the case. The ideal situation is when you are at one of the airline's hubs and a replacement plane is ready and waiting to replace yours. If that isn't the case, you may face a long wait as a new plane is found and flown in. The flight can potentially be completely canceled.
Even while it can be annoying, safety always comes first, so it's just one of the unfortunate realities of flying.
In conclusion
There aren't any quick changes that can save the aviation industry. Taking a very long time to learn, pilots and air traffic controllers are highly trained professionals. Naturally, Mother Nature cannot be halted.
FACEBOOK