Airlines canceled thousands of flights over the weekend, many due to severe weather in Florida, according to a flight tracking site.
FlightAware reported over 3,600 flights were canceled on Sunday, after more than 4,000 had been were canceled on Saturday — in addition to thousands of delays.
The severe thunderstorms in the southeast came as people flocked to the Sunshine State for spring break vacations and warm temperatures.
The weather-related delays and cancelations began on Saturday and continued into Sunday amid hard-to-predict thunderstorms that complicated air traffic control operations.
On Sunday, 35 percent of Spirit Airlines flights, or about 300 trips, were canceled nationwide, while 33 percent of JetBlue flights, accounting for over 360 flights, were canceled. Meanwhile, 400 Southwest Airlines flights, or 10 percent of their trips scheduled for the day, were canceled.
With 80 cancellations, Miami International Airport had more canceled flights than any other on Sunday. Another 76 flights were canceled out of Orlando International Airport amid severe storms in Florida over the weekend.
JetBlue, Southwest and American airlines all confirmed to the Associated Press on Sunday that weather in the southeast was a factor in their flight cancellations.
The Hill has reached out to the airlines for comment.
The cancellations come as surging fuel prices have driven airline ticket prices up, though demand for travel has been resilient and is only expected to increase as summer approaches.
“We’ve not seen a stronger demand … in my career,” Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian said earlier this month despite the rising costs of flying.
At that time, United and American Airlines had also reported more demand than ever before for flights.
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