GAO ISSUES REPORT ON U.S. FLIGHT DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS, AND DOT EFFORTS TO ADDRESS THEM
June 26, 2023
On April 28, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report on the causes of U.S. flight delays and cancellations. The report comes in response to lingering questions on airline scheduling practices and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airline industry. GAO investigated U.S. flight delays and cancellations by examining three main topics: (1) trends in and causes of flight disruptions before and after the pandemic, (2) challenges airlines faced managing and responding to flight disruptions, and (3) FAA and DOT actions to help address these challenges. In the report, GAO noted that cancellation rates in the last six months of 2021 outpaced 2018 and 2019 rates, despite the lower percentage of total flights operated, and that increased cancellation rates continued through April 2022. The major factors that caused cancellations were found to be “within the airlines’ control” and included issues like aircraft maintenance and/or short staffing. The report also noted that “sustained cancellations,” which are defined as a series of days where an airline cancelled a large percentage of its flights, lasted longer, and became more common as travel demand increased in late 2021 and early 2022 when the pandemic recovery began. In contrast, flight delay rates remained at relatively the same rate as reported for pre-pandemic 2018 and 2019, though, GAO did report that airline-caused delays were the leading cause of delays when the pandemic began in March 2020 and continued to be the leading cause of delays throughout 2021 as air traffic began returning to normal levels. GAO noted that based on its estimate, flight cancellations between July 2021 and April 2022 potentially affected over 15 million passengers, and flight delays during the same timeframe potentially affected over 116 million passengers.
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