Flight delays and cancellations have always been a problem for commercial air carriers, causing safety challenges and lost revenues, and this has been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although flight disruptions can be the result of a variety of causes, weather is still a major factor, with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stating that “inclement weather is the reason for nearly 70 percent of all delays.”
Since June 2003, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics has tracked flight delays and cancellations involving the major airlines and recorded the cause of the delay or cancellation. One of the five categories of causes is “extreme weather,” defined as “significant meteorological conditions (actual or forecasted) that, in the judgment of the carrier, delays or prevents the operation of a flight such as tornado, blizzard or hurricane.”
These represent o…
