Thursday flight headaches: Delays hit Northeast, California

Dreary rainy weather was creating problems for air travelers in the Northeast on Thursday while cloudy conditions and a runway construction project led to backups at California’s two busiest hubs.

In the Northeast, a spike in delays and cancellations was being reported at several of the region’s busiest airports, including those serving New York City and Boston.

All three of the big New York City-area airports – JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty – were among those seeing schedule disruptions.  Those airports are some of the most delay-prone in the United States, often experiencing flight backups even during moderate weather events.

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That was the case Thursday as rainy and cloudy weather moved across the region. Delays averaging anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours were being reported at LaGuarida, Newark and Philadelphia because of “weather/low ceilings” on Thursday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight-delay map.

Delays at Boston were being reported for the same reason, with average slowdowns of up about three hours, according to the FAA.

At JFK, the FAA cited runway construction as main culprit, though weather likely wasn’t helping either.

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The problems were having a significant impact on flight schedules. Nearly 10% of the entire day’s schedule had been canceled at the three New York City-area airports as of 1:15 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.  Even more flights were delayed. About a quarter were running late at LaGaurdia and JFK while about 15% were off schedule at Newark.

Cancellations were less of a problem at Boston, though nearly 1 out of every 5 flights was delayed as of 1:15 p.m., according to FlightAware.

The low clouds were creating sporadic delays at Philadelphia, though – so far – disruptions there were more muted than in New York and in Boston.

In Washington, thunderstorms blocking flight paths were creating sporadic delays at Washington Dulles. The Washington/Baltimore region remained under the threat of storms into the evening.

In California, cloudy weather led to delays averaging about 40 minutes at San Francisco International, according to the FAA. Cancellations were not a major problem there, but delays were a nuisance. More than 5% of the day’s flights were running late, FlightAware said.

At Los Angeles, an ongoing runway construction project was leading to slowdowns there. The FAA said delays were averaging about 45 minutes. FlightAware showed that more than 1 out of every 10 flights there was behind schedule as of 1:15 p.m. ET (10:15 a.m. PT).

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