The worst airports for delays and cancellations this summer

(CNN) — Summer is officially almost over and that means the craziness — and hopefully chaos — of the season’s air travel is about to subside.

The last big summer travel weekend for Americans ended on a relatively high note.

Put that down to a variety of factors, says FlyAware’s Kathleen Bangs, including good weather — mostly — across the US.

“But the airlines deserve credit for overstaffing during the summer,” said Bangs, a former airline pilot and spokesperson for FlalaAware.

It was the first holiday weekend since the start of the pandemic that the number of passengers at US Transportation Security Administration checkpoints exceeded the number of passengers in 2019.

Is the weekend a sign of lower levels of disturbance?

Fall — late September and especially October — “is the sweet spot for airlines as weather delays and cancellations should decrease before winter this coming shoulder season,” Bangs said in an email, adding that a hurricane warning means “all bets are off.”

While hopes for milder skies ahead are high, there’s no denying that summer air travel has been chaotic in the US and around the world.

So which airports were the worst in terms of percentage of delayed and canceled flights at the end of this summer?

Here’s how things shook out in the United States and internationally (based on FlightAware data from May 27 to September 5).

The worst US airports for delays and cancellations this summer

All U.S. airports with the highest percentage of arrival delays delayed a quarter or more of their flights this winter, with Chicago’s Midway arrivals delayed by nearly 38%.

New York-area airports also struggled with delays, with JFK and Newark in the top 10, as was Orlando International Airport in Florida. Airlines had their share of operational struggles, and New York and Florida were repeatedly cited by airline executives as areas affected by air traffic controller personnel issues.

Here are the US airports with the highest percentage of delayed flights:

1. Chicago Midway International Airport: 37.7%
2. Baltimore/Washington International Airport: 32.5%
3. Orlando International Airport: 32.2%
4. John F. Kennedy International Airport: 31%
5. Harry Reid International Airport (Las Vegas): 31%
6. Newark Liberty International Airport: 30.4%
7. Dallas Love Field Airport: 29.1%
8. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport: 28.3%
9. Denver International Airport: 27.5%
10. Charlotte Douglas International Airport: 27.2%

New York area airports also had high cancellation rates this summer, with Newark and LaGuardia leading the way with nearly 7% of their flights canceled during the summer travel season between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.

Here are the US airports with the highest percentage of canceled flights:

1. Newark Liberty International Airport: 6.7%
2. LaGuardia Airport: 6.7%
3. Reagan National Airport: 4.8%
4. Raleigh-Durham International Airport: 3.7%
5. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport: 3.5%
6. Pittsburgh International Airport: 3.4%
7. Boston Logan International Airport: 3%
8. John Glenn Columbus International Airport: 3%
9. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport: 2.9%
10. Indianapolis International Airport: 2.9%

Passengers at Toronto Pearson International Airport on July 22, 2022. More than half of those arriving have been delayed at the airport this summer.

Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getty Images

The worst airports around the world for delays and cancellations this summer

Looking broadly at airports around the world, Canada stood out for the biggest delays this summer. About half of those arriving were delayed at the two largest airports – Toronto Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau. More than a third of flights at Vancouver Airport were also delayed.

Air Canada has launched a policy to address “longer-than-usual delays” this summer, specifically at Toronto’s Pearson airport.

Airports in Europe’s travel hubs — Frankfurt, London and Paris, among others — were plagued by delays between late May and early September.

Here are the airports with the highest percentage of flight delays around the world:

1. Toronto Pearson International Airport: 51.9%
2. Montreal-Trudeau International Airport: 47.8%
3. Frankfurt International Airport: 44.5%
4. Humberto Delgado Airport (Lisbon): 43%
5. London Gatwick Airport: 42%
6. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport: 41.6%
7. Munich International Airport: 40.1%
8. Manchester Airport: 39%
9. Athens International Airport: 38.5%
10. Vancouver International Airport: 37.8%

A large portion of this summer’s flight cancellations occurred in China.

Continued travel restrictions and rapid lockdowns have caused major disruptions to travel in China, and strict Covid-19 containment policies have kept the country closed to most international travel since the outbreak began.

Still, Newark and LaGuardia made the global cancellation list at No. 9 and 10, respectively.

Here are the airports with the highest percentage of canceled flights around the world:

1. Shanghai Pudong International Airport (China): 29.8%
2. Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (China): 15.6%
3. Beijing Capital International Airport (China): 14.7%
4. Nanjing Luku International Airport (China): 14.4%
5. Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (China): 9.5%
6. Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (China): 9.1%
7. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (Indonesia): 8.3%
8. Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (China): 8.2%
9. Newark Liberty International Airport (US): 6.7%
10. LaGuardia Airport (US): 6.7%

Top Image: Travelers line up to enter a security checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport on July 1, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. (Jenna Moon/Getty Images)