Weather continues to be a significant source of delay for aviation destined to and from the New York metropolitan area

Weather continues to be a significant source of delay for aircraft destined to and departing from the New York metropolitan area, with weather delays through the first half of 2004 reaching levels not seen since 2000. In Allan et al. (2001), it was shown that total arrival delays on days with low ceiling and visibility at Newark Airport (EWR) averaged 210 hours, increasing to an average of 280 hours on days with thunderstorms impacting EWR operations. An analysis of Ground Delay Programs (GDPs) due to weather in the National Airspace System was performed for 2002-2003. Low ceilings, thunderstorms, snow, and wind were all shown to be significant sources of delay (Figure 1). These same weather conditions that lead to GDPs often also lead to holding and long departure delays.