When in doubt, blame Florida

Across the US, one-fifth of daily flights on average were delayed reaching their destinations in the first six months of this year. That’s up from ~11% through all of 2021.

But according to the WSJ, one state in particular has been performing poorly on the flight delay and cancellation scale, and it’s uniquely positioned to have compounding effects on air travel across the country: Florida.

🤔 What’s going on?... In plain English, people like to visit Florida – a lot, in fact. And being in the business of serving the travel needs of individuals, airlines have adapted to meet that demand. Every major airline serves Florida, and some, like Spirit, say more than a third of their flights cross its airspace (Spirit actually wants to add more flights to the state, but is currently unable to).

But bad weather, too much traffic volume, and staffing struggles have contributed to an above-average amount of delays and cancellations. Plus, there are military operations, such as flight-training exercises, and a growing number of space launches that restrict airspace for passenger flights. Private jet usage is also up.

• At a Jacksonville air-traffic-control facility, FAA data shows the largest source of delays over the first half of this year was weather, followed by volume. The state’s two air-traffic-control centers trail only Atlanta’s in the number of aircraft handled.
• And then there are staffing struggles, the third-biggest factor. 21% of the time lost to delays in Jacksonville was tied to staffing challenges; when short-staffed, control facilities close off parts of the airspace so controllers don’t become overwhelmed.

✈️ Looking ahead… In May, officials from the FAA, the airlines and trade groups met to hash out plans to improve ops in Florida. Among other steps, the FAA said it would share more information about events that could affect airspace and boost the ability of carriers to fly different routes and altitudes.