- On Sunday, over 1,000 flights in the US were canceled, while over 5,000 flights were delayed.
- Southwest canceled the bulk of these flights, with over 714 cancellations on Sunday alone.
- Hurricane Hilary made landfall in southwestern US states on Sunday, before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
Over 6,000 flights were delayed or canceled across the US on Sunday, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware, as Hurricane Hilary made landfall in the country.
In total, 5,239 flights within, into, or out of the US were delayed on Sunday, per FlightAware. An additional 1,055 flights were canceled.
Southwest Airlines canceled the bulk of these flights — canceling 714 on Sunday alone, representing around 17% of its daily flights. Southwest is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and is the largest low-cost airline in the world by fleet size as of 2022, according to analytics firm ch-aviation.
Meanwhile, 348 flights in and out of Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas — over 40% of the airport’s arriving and departing flights — were canceled on the same day, the most of any airport in the country.
The next-most cancellations happened at San Diego International Airport, with 252 cancellations on Sunday — representing over 70% of the airport’s flights.
Air traffic seems to recovering today. FlightAware has tracked 273 delays and 274 cancellations across the US on Monday, as of the time of writing.
“You have to remember this portion of the country is not used to the amount of rainfall, wind, and possible thunderstorms like the rest of the country could possibly be used to,” said the Federal Aviation Administration in its Hurricane Hilary outlook on Sunday.
The storm made landfall in southwestern US on Sunday afternoon, and could dump over a year’s worth of rain on California, Nevada and Arizona, Insider reported.
As of Sunday morning, the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm. Hilary is the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years.
Before the tropical storm making landfall, major airlines — including Southwest, American Airlines, Delta, and United — waived fees to change flights for passengers that were flying this weekend, Insider reported.
Southwest Airlines, Harry Reid International Airport, and San Diego International Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.
