Thursdays stay the busiest air journey days of the complete 12 months.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mentioned on Jan. 3 that 2024 was America’s second-busiest 12 months in historical past for flights. The earlier document was set earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.
An FAA consultant informed The Epoch Occasions that 2024 additionally noticed the second-highest variety of flights recorded in 12 months after 2019 when roughly 17.01 million flights have been logged domestically by Air Visitors Management.
Thursdays continued to be the preferred air journey day of the week final 12 months, with greater than 2.58 million Thursday flights logged in 2024. Thursdays stay among the many prime 10 busiest days of the 12 months, with flight numbers climbing previous 52,000 on every of these days. July 25 was the busiest day of 2024, with 54,338 flights.
Fridays have been additionally busy, with 2.54 million flights logged on all of these days mixed final 12 months.
For the fifth 12 months in a row, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport topped the listing of busiest airports within the nation, dealing with 802,423 operations—a rise of about 21,000 from the 12 months prior—in 2024 alone. Chicago O’Hare Worldwide was in second place with 776,854 operations, and Dallas Fort Price Worldwide got here in third with 750,167.
Although the variety of flights elevated from 2023, the FAA mentioned the cancellation charge remained at 1.2 p.c, the bottom since 2016.
In 2023 and 2024, the main reason behind flight delays was the climate, accounting for 61.4 p.c of the overall delay minutes. Heavy visitors and runway development have been the following main causes of flight delays within the final two years.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, who beforehand introduced he would retire on Jan. 20 so President-elect Donald Trump may select his successor, mirrored on the January 2024 Alaskan Airways incident, which triggered renewed scrutiny on Boeing’s security practices and resulted in additional regulatory motion from the FAA.
“I spoke with our security specialists and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to get all of the information and inputs earlier than making the choice to difficulty an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all MAX plane constructed with this sort of plug door,” he mentioned. “That quickly led to a collection of unprecedented steps that dramatically reworked how we oversee Boeing.”
He mentioned the aerospace producer is working to execute its complete security plan, which can enhance high quality whereas additionally participating its staff.
“We’re actively monitoring the outcomes and preserving a detailed eye on work at key Boeing amenities,” Whitaker mentioned.
“FAA security specialists frequently evaluation the effectiveness of the adjustments; senior FAA leaders meet with Boeing weekly to evaluation their efficiency metrics, progress, and any challenges they’re dealing with; we have now performed an unprecedented variety of unannounced audits; and we conduct month-to-month standing opinions with Boeing executives to watch progress. Our enhanced oversight is right here to remain.”