Summary

• Ground stops affect major East Coast airports.
• There have been hundreds of flight delays or cancellations in the last 24 hours.
• Passengers are advised to check flight status with their airline.

Due to the bad weather, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to order ground checks at several airports on the US East Coast. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled. The affected airports asked their passengers to check the flight status with the respective airline for further information.

Ground stops paralyze operations

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered ground stops at several airports today after a thunderstorm made it difficult for flights to land or take off. The three major airports in the New York City area –New York JFK Airport LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EEA) – were affected.

However, the situation goes beyond New York airports. Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC airports are also affected by disruptions. PIX 11 quoted a statement from the FAA saying:

“Departures to LaGuardia are cancelled due to thunderstorms. The probability of an extension is medium (30-60%). Departures to John F. Kennedy International are cancelled due to thunderstorms.”

Airports are also issuing alerts on social media to alert passengers to the situation on the ground. LGA said: “Due to weather conditions, there were flight disruptions at LGA Airport. Please check with your airline for the status of your flight.” EEA issued similar advice on X.

Hundreds of flights affected

A total of hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at New York City’s three airports. According to FlightAware, nearly 250 flights were delayed and just over 300 canceled at LGA in the last 24 hours.

Republic Airways was the worst affected airline, with 40% of its flights cancelled and 18% delayed at LGA. Endeavor Air saw 37% of its flights cancelled and 19% delayed. Delta, Southwest and American Airlines saw 22%, 41% and 27% of their flights cancelled, respectively.

At JFK, more than 550 flights were delayed and 140 were canceled, with Endeavor Air being the hardest hit (36% canceled and 33% delayed). Republic Airways was next with 29% canceled. JetBlue, Delta and American Airlines had 6%, 5% and 8% of JFK flights canceled and 52%, 39% and 35% delayed, respectively.

At EWR, more than 330 flights were delayed and nearly 250 were canceled. Republic Airways had the most cancellations at 42% and delayed 9% of its flights. United, whose main hub is at EWR, had 13% of its flights canceled and 39% delayed. GoJet, Spirit and American Airlines followed with 34%, 25% and 29% of their flights at EWR and 2%, 23% and 20% of their flights delayed.

The situation was not much different at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), with more than 320 delays and 39 cancellations at the time of writing. The worst affected airline was United Airlines at IAD, with 51% of flights delayed and 5% canceled. Republic, CommuteAir, Mesa Airlines and SkyWest were some of the other affected airlines, with 26%, 43%, 33% and 38% of their flights delayed respectively.

Several ground stops this year

A ground stop can be imposed at an airport for a variety of reasons, with bad weather being at the top of the list. In the United States, there have been several ground stops this year, including the recently at Tampa International Airport due to a tropical storm.

In the last monthUS airlines asked the FAA to order ground stops due to a system failure that affected communications . It eventually became a global problem: airports, hospitals, and other companies reported outages around the world due to problems with their Microsoft systems.