While Floridians are accustomed to storms of all types, the last two days have brought not only stormy weather but also heavy rain, thunder, hail and lightning to the Orlando area.
Dense fog and threat of gusts of wind of up to 70 kilometers per hour have wreaked chaos around the airport that hundreds of travelers use to start their trip to the sun or to Disney (DES) vacation. According to data from aircraft tracking site FlightAware, more than 628 flights were delayed and 20 were canceled as of the end of Sunday.
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“Florida airports are being affected by storms today and weather is the leading cause of delays and cancellations,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a ground shutdown note it issued for several hours on 3 March. The Command Center is working closely with airlines to plan for and avoid expected weather across the country.”
These are the airlines with the most cancellations and delays in Orlando
The main reason for the cancellations had to do with the dense fog that enveloped the area and made it difficult for pilots to see the area in front of the plane. But even after the ground stop was lifted on Sunday afternoon, airlines struggled to catch up to restart flight schedules. With 174 flights and more than 60% of its schedule in Orlando taking off late, Southwest Airlines (LUV) took the biggest hit of all other airlines at the airport.
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Spiritual airlines (SAVE) and delta airlines (give it) followed closely with 104 and 83 delays respectively.
While the weather played a major role in the cancellations, the situation was also aggravated by the fact that most of the country's airports do not have enough air traffic controllers who would have made it possible to carry out more flights in bad weather. Although the entire aviation industry is currently facing severe staffing shortages, the high stress and extensive training that comes with the position make the situation especially bad in the air traffic controller space.
In 2023, the FAA issued a warning saying that airports in places like the New York City area were at just over 50% of their air traffic controller staffing goals. This causes significant delays both in regular schedules and in adverse weather conditions.
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'We sat there for another hour…'
As a result, many travelers scheduled to fly to or from Orlando on March 3 were often left waiting for hours even after they were allowed to board the plane.
“We sat there for about an hour, an hour and 15 minutes,” a witness described to Orlando television station WESH. “There was a lot of traffic on the runway and the planes just backed up.”
While planes have been flying successfully since Monday morning, forecasts predict more storms will pass through the Orlando area through March 4.
On its social media platforms, the airport encouraged travelers to monitor the latest updates from both the airline they are taking and the airport and federal authorities.
