Florida, one of the most popular destinations in the United States for vacationers, is witnessing the aerial equivalent of a 43-car pileup.
A traffic jam in the skies over the Sunshine State has prompted officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and commercial airlines to meet this week to combat thick congestion that is forcing a cutback in flights from carriers like JetBlue and Spirit.
More than 9,000 U.S. flights were delayed or canceled last month after thunderstorms hit Florida, exacerbating a surge in post-pandemic demand for travel.
Add to that a glut of chartered and private jets taking off and landing, as well as space launches, and the industry is facing similar logistics problems that bedeviled California’s ports in the lead-up to Christmas.
“Nobody could have anticipated that Florida in April would have…115 hours of [air traffic control] delays for that month, compared to 22 in 2019,” JetBlue Airways president Joanna Geraghty said on a quarterly earnings call last month.
Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle told investors the airline would be trimming its capacity through that area, blaming weather problems and staffing shortages at the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, which controls airspace over the northern two-thirds of Florida.
Private flights have surged as those customers that could afford them sought the safety of chartering their own aircraft.
At Palm Beach International Airport, private and charter flights in March jumped 65% compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Cape Canaveral also is on track to see the most space launches in decades, with 10 out of the total 17 so far this year operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
This could present a bigger problem going forward if he has to move his launch base from Boca Chica in Texas to Florida if it doesn’t receive environmental approval.
During a launch, the FAA needs to close hundreds of miles of airspace.
What’s plaguing Florida currently could eventually start to spread to other parts of the country as well, warned an aerospace professor researching the subject.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if, as traffic levels come up and also as we move into the [severe storm] season in other parts of the country, that you might see a similar increase in delays,” John Hansman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told Bloomberg.
To help cope with the need for improved infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Transportation is investing $1 billion in hundreds of buildings and equipment that form part of the nation’s air traffic control system.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will repair, replace, and modernize the infrastructure that our air traffic control system relies on to keep the traveling public safe for generations to come,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week.
