Hurricane Debby fuels 1,500 flight cancellations after an already rough weekend for air travel

05.08.2024 - 19:29 / thepointsguy.com / John F.Kennedy / Pete Buttigieg / Clint Henderson

Flight cancellations are mounting Monday after Hurricane Debby made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast — disruptions that come in the wake of a messy weekend for air travel amid severe storms up and down the East Coast.

According to data from flight-tracking site FlightAware, by 12:30 p.m. EDT Monday, airlines had canceled more than 1,500 flights in the U.S.

The disruptions are most heavily concentrated in Florida and the Southeast, areas where Debby's high winds and heavy rains were forecast to be strongest.

The Federal Aviation Administration expects cancellations and delays will continue to pile up over the course of the day, the agency said Monday morning.

As of late morning Monday, Orlando International Airport (MCO) had seen more than a fifth of its departing flights scrapped. Cancellation rates are approaching 30% at Tampa International Airport (TPA) and sit at around 10% at Miami International Airport (MIA), FlightAware shows.

Debby made landfall in Florida on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, with the National Hurricane Center warning about potentially catastrophic flooding.

The storm "continues to cause major flight disruptions for passengers traveling to and from Florida," Tampa airport officials warned in a statement late Monday morning, noting the airport is operational, but expected to halt operations at times due to heavy rain, high winds and lightning.

On social media Monday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of potential air travel (and ground travel) disruptions as the storm bears down on the Southeast.

Travelers have already faced cascading delays and cancellations elsewhere along the East Coast in recent days, after a stormy weekend fueled thousands of flight cancellations. Since Friday, more than 6,000 departures have been canceled, per FlightAware.

"We've been extremely fortunate with weather this year. Until now," said Marty St. George, president of New York-based JetBlue, in a social media post.

Passengers faced major headaches over the weekend at a slew of East Coast airports, including major airports in the New York City area. TPG managing editor Clint Henderson, who was among the travelers caught in the weekend's disruptions, faced a lengthy ground delay following a transatlantic flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), finally arriving to a remote stand before having to deplane onto a bus to get to customs.

American Airlines, which has six hubs along the East Coast, has seen its operations affected the most of any U.S. carrier in recent days. American has canceled nearly 1,400 flights since Saturday, including close to a fifth of its operation on Sunday.

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