Storms Shred Airline Schedules – AVweb

Key points:

-hundreds of flights delayed

-aircraft inspected for hail damage

-thunderstorms expected through Tuesday

Flight delays and cancellations are expected to ripple through the system for another couple of days after a severe thunderstorm prompted an almost total evacuation of the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport control tower and grounded aircraft. Delta said its Atlanta hub was seriously disrupted. “The storm caused hundreds of cancellations, diversions and delays across our entire system as well as an evacuation and temporary power loss at the ATL air traffic control tower,” the airline said in a statement. “More than 100 Delta aircraft required inspection due to hail, and we anticipate several hundred more cancellations this weekend as we work to safely recover.”

By Sunday, only a handful of cancellations were being reported in Atlanta on FlightAware’s Misery Map but about two-thirds of flights were delayed. Houston, which is on the same storm track as Atlanta, had about the same percentage of problem flights while Charlotte, the destination of the rough weather, was almost as bad. The stormy pattern is expected to continue through Tuesday. The cumulative effects of the disruptions could be seen across the country as far as Seattle which was under sunny skies but still showing about 25 percent of flights delayed or cancelled.