Airports hit hardest by delays and cancellations this summer

With summer officially winding down, the chaotic air travel season – and, hopefully, the turmoil – is finally starting to ease.

The final major travel weekend of the summer for Americans ended on a relatively positive note.

The flight cancellation rate for the Labor Day weekend was 0.6%, a sharp drop from the summer's average of 2.2% from Memorial Day to September 1, according to data from FlightAware.

FlightAware's Kathleen Bangs attributes this improvement to a mix of factors, including mostly favorable weather across the United States.

“But airlines deserve some credit for boosting their staff levels over the summer,” said Bangs, a former airline pilot and FlightAware spokesperson.

The smooth performance occurred during a weekend when the number of passengers screened at TSA checkpoints in the US surpassed 2019 levels for the first time during a holiday weekend since the pandemic began.

Is this weekend a sign of fewer disruptions to come?

Fall – particularly late September and October – is “the sweet spot for airlines, as weather-related delays and cancellations should be reduced during the upcoming shoulder season before winter,” Bangs said in an email, though she cautioned that a hurricane would throw all predictions out the window.

While there’s optimism for smoother skies ahead, it’s undeniable that summer air travel has been a disaster in the US and globally.

So, which airports had the worst performance this summer when it comes to delayed and canceled flights?

Here’s a breakdown of how things played out in the United States and globally (based on FlightAware data from May 27 through September 5):

US airports with the worst delays and cancellations this summer

All US airports with the highest rates of arrival delays experienced a quarter or more of their flights delayed this summer, with Chicago Midway seeing nearly 38% of flights delayed.

New York-area airports also struggled with delays, with JFK and Newark ranking in the top 10, as well as Orlando International Airport in Florida. Airlines faced significant operational challenges, and both New York and Florida were often cited by airline executives as areas impacted by air traffic controller staffing shortages.

Here are the US airports with the highest rates of delayed flights:

1. Chicago Midway International Airport: 37.7%
2. Baltimore/Washington International Airport: 32.5%
3. Orlando International Airport: 32.2%
4. John F. Kennedy International Airport: 31%
5. Harry Reid International Airport (Las Vegas): 31%
6. Newark Liberty International Airport: 30.4%
7. Dallas Love Field Airport: 29.1%
8. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport: 28.3%
9. Denver International Airport: 27.5%
10. Charlotte Douglas International Airport: 27.2%

New York-area airports also faced significant flight cancellations this summer, with Newark and LaGuardia leading the pack, as nearly 7% of their flights were canceled during the summer travel season from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Here are the US airports with the highest cancellation rates:

1. Newark Liberty International Airport: 6.7%
2. LaGuardia Airport: 6.7%
3. Reagan National Airport: 4.8%
4. Raleigh-Durham International Airport: 3.7%
5. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport: %
6. Pittsburgh International Airport: 3.4%
7. Boston Logan International Airport: 3%
8. John Glenn Columbus International Airport: 3%
9. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport: 2.9%
10. Indianapolis International Airport: 2.9%

Airports with the worst delays and cancellations worldwide this summer

Looking globally, Canada experienced significant delays this summer. At two of its major airports – Toronto Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau – roughly half of all arrivals were delayed. Vancouver's airport also saw over a third of its flights delayed.

Air Canada introduced a policy this summer allowing changes to airport and flight itineraries to mitigate the impact of “longer-than-usual delays” at Toronto Pearson.

Airports in major European hubs – including Frankfurt, London, and Paris – also faced significant delays between late May and early September.

Here are the airports with the highest rates of delayed flights globally:

1. Toronto Pearson International Airport: 51.9%
2. Montreal-Trudeau International Airport: 47.8%
3. Frankfurt International Airport: 44.5%
4. Humberto Delgado Airport (Lisbon): 43%
5. London Gatwick Airport: 42%
6. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport: 41.6%
7. Munich International Airport: 40.1%
8. Manchester Airport: 39%
9. Athens International Airport: 38.5%
10. Vancouver International Airport: 37.8%

A significant portion of this summer’s flight cancellations occurred in China.

China’s ongoing travel restrictions and abrupt lockdowns have severely impacted travel, with its strict Covid containment policies keeping the country closed off to most international flights since the pandemic began.

Despite the challenges, Newark and LaGuardia still made the global list for cancellations, ranking at Nos. 9 and 10.

Here are the airports with the highest cancellation rates worldwide:

1. Shanghai Pudong International Airport (China): 29.8%
2. Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (China): 15.6%
3. Beijing Capital International Airport (China): 14.7%
4. Nanjing Lukou International Airport (China): 14.4%
5. Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (China): 9.5%
6. Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (China): 9.1%
7. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (Indonesia): 8.3%
8. Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (China): 8.2%
9. Newark Liberty International Airport (US): 6.7%
10. LaGuardia Airport (US): 6.7%