LAS VEGAS — Harry Reid International Airport had probably the most flight delays of any major U.S. airport in fiscal yr 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a recent report.
The FAA, which uses data collected from air traffic controllers nationwide, said there have been 29,763 flight delays at Reid this fiscal yr — greater than 9,500 greater than the subsequent busiest airport, New York's LaGuardia International Airport. The total at Reid can also be greater than double the number recorded in fiscal yr 2022 and greater than five times higher than the common number for fiscal years 2017-19.
A representative for Reid said many aspects played a job in the various flight delays at Las Vegas airport, including extensive runway renovations.
“This includes weather conditions not only in Southern Nevada, but across the country, that can cause a domino effect on flights arriving and departing from LAS,” said Monika Bertaki, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Aviation Authority.
“Commercially, we have had an influx of air traffic at LAS post-pandemic, while the number of aircraft that can take off and land with a given configuration has remained the same,” she said. “Add to that, the influx of general air traffic into the region competes for the number of departures per hour on peak days and times. Finally, we completed runway improvements in the spring and summer of 2023 to reconfigure four taxiways and relocate two runways. During runway construction, sections were closed, reducing the number of departures and arrivals at any given hour.”
Among the 30 major airports across the country, Reid International had the worst performance with delays of quarter-hour or more. The 4 worst airports behind Reid were LaGuardia (20,019 delays in fiscal yr 2023), Newark, Liberty International in New Jersey (13,729 delays), San Francisco International (12,303) and Denver International (9,570).
The fewest delays in fiscal yr 2023: Salt Lake City International with 231 delays.
The FAA reported a complete of 153,312 delays on the 30 major airports.
While delays at Reid International Airport have skyrocketed over the past yr, delays nationwide have fallen 50.6 percent from the previous yr, the FAA said.
Punctuality has improved despite the rise within the variety of flights nationwide, the FAA said.
According to the report, the variety of operations rose by 3.8 percent to 12.2 million. Both an arrival and a departure count as one operation.
Ten U.S. airports, including Reid, saw operations increase above pre-pandemic 2017-19 levels. Airports that exceeded pre-pandemic levels include Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Reid, John F. Kennedy in New York, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Orlando, Honolulu, Ronald Reagan National in Washington and Tampa.
With 603,015, Reid ranks fifth within the airport statistics, behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (762,526 flights), Chicago O'Hare International (716,920), Dallas-Fort Worth (675,807) and Denver (647,440).
The FAA has five categories that show the sorts of delays on the nation's airports. The agency reported in fiscal yr 2023 that weather caused 54.5% of delays, traffic 21.5%, equipment 6.2%, runway problems 17.8% and “other” 0.1%.
Reid also recorded the ninth highest variety of cancellations in fiscal yr 2023, with 3,515. The airport with probably the most cancellations was Denver (6,837), followed by LaGuardia (6,672), Newark (6,440), Dallas-Fort Worth (6,043), Chicago O'Hare (5,669), Atlanta (4,138), New York JFK (4,125), Orlando (3,932) after which Reid. The airport with the fewest cancellations: Honolulu (865).
image credit : www.mercurynews.com