The real reason your flight is delayed
The weather is a convenient excuse for airline delays, but it’s generally not the cause. These are the top reasons for flight delays.
1. Airline factors
Most of the time your flight is late, it’s because the airline themselves has had some sort of issue. Statistics from the Federal Aviation Authority in the US found that around six in 100 flight delays are caused by airline problems. These can be things like a computer glitch, lack of flight crew, aircraft damage, mechanical breakdown, delayed luggage or unruly passengers holding up the flight, among many other things.
2. Late arrivals
Remember that the above figure doesn’t even take into account the ripple effect caused by each individual flight delay, which can play havoc with the overall schedule. Aircraft turnaround times are getting shorter as airlines look to cut costs, so even a small delay can have a huge impact on following flights.
3. National Airspace System
These are the systems that control the airspace over each country (hence the name). With literally thousands of aircraft in the air at any one time, delays can pop up all over the place. If airports or routes are overcrowded, your flight might have to circle in the air for a while until a spot frees up. Once again, this system is susceptible to the ripple effect as each delay knocks into the next.
4. Security problems
These are pretty rare, but sometimes there can be a big hold up at security with huge lines meaning all passengers are late to the gate. While they won’t hold the flight for just one or two latecomers, if every passenger is running late then they will have to wait. Security delays also apply in the case of airport evacuations, where all passengers have to leave the terminal for a period of time. If this happens, expect delays to be in the hours rather than minutes.
5. Extreme weather
Of course, you can’t rule out the weather factor completely. Australia gets off pretty lightly with just a few delays for high winds or big storms. In the USA and Europe, massive snowstorms regularly close airports for days at a time. Tornados, hurricanes and ash from volcanic eruptions have all played their part in keeping planes on the ground and unhappy passengers grounded.
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