Are Weather Hazards Nuking The Flight Business In America? Astonishing Data & Other Staggering Insights

The American flight network is showing signs of strain under the weight of weather-related disruptions. A winter storm was responsible for the U.S. airlines to cancel a total of 1,802 flights and 22,349 delayed as the snowy temperatures encompassed the nation creating hazardous conditions for travel. This surge forced carriers to issue travel advisories and left thousands of passengers looking for an alternative. 

The weather is no longer just a temporary hindrance, it’s emerging as the dominant cause of cancellations. According to BTS data shared, the weather accounted for 73.5 % of all flight cancellations in the first half of 2025, totaling 43,785 flights grounded by storms, winds, and conditions severe enough to make flying unsafe.  

Meanwhile, disruption rates are wildly varied across the U.S. Nearly 1 in 4 flights nationwide is delayed or canceled, with the worst states being West Virginia, Virginia, Kansas, clocking up to 27.3% and 23.8% of flights affected respectively. Travelers in New Jersey face some of the steepest costs when delays strike, with average claims near $751 per incident, far above the national average.  

At the airport level, the weather toll is quantifiable and staggering. According to Visual Capitalist’s ranking, major U.S. airports collectively accounted for millions of weather-related minutes of delay in recent years, with Atlanta (ATL) and Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) among the top in total delays each recording weather-related delay figures in the hundreds of thousands of minutes annually.  

Seasonality matters too: Weather Underground’s analysis of the most weather-delayed airports shows a sharp contrast across major U.S. hubs with airports like Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD), each nearing 75,055 and 254,239 delays annually, driven by everything from thunderstorms to snowstorms, wind shear, and heat extremes. 

Carrier performance also reflects weather-induced disruption. Men’s Journal’s study revealed that American Airlines canceled the most flights this year, with tens of thousands of cancellations attributed to weather and related operational knock-on effects surpassing other major U.S. carriers in sheer numbers of canceled schedules. 

Adding to this, Squaremouth’s seasonal breakdown shows that summer months (June–August) have a combined flight disruption rate of 27.8% (delays plus cancellations), compared with 21.4% in spring and 14.8% in fall, underscoring that weather-related impact spans heat waves and thunderstorms just as much as winter storms.