Storms delay thousands of flights on busy Juneteenth weekend

By Ross Levitt and Ramishah Maruf, CNN

(CNN) — As millions of Americans head to airports for the Juneteenth holiday weekend, many are facing serious travel headaches – including hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays.

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a ground delay program at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday – resulting in a delay of more than two hours, according to FAA’s website. An additional ground delay was in place at Philadelphia International Airport, which averaged 45 minutes.

Out west, there was another ground delay at Denver International Airport due to thunderstorms on Friday, with delays approaching two hours.

The tracking site Flight Aware listed more than 9,000 flight delays in the United States and 579 cancellations Friday. The site shows the three major New York City airports having the most cancellations.

Problems eased a bit Saturday, with 7,408 delays and more than 350 cancellations. As of 11 a.m. ET Sunday, there were over 1,600 delays in the US.

Transportation Security Administration data show an uptick in passengers being screened at America’s airports this week, including more than 2.7 million on Thursday. That number exceeded the passenger volume from 2019 before the pandemic.

TSA officers screened another 2.7 million on Sunday, which was also ahead of 2019 levels.

The Juneteenth holiday combined with Father’s Day and pent-up travel demand are likely contributing to the surge.

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