Why are flights canceled? What to know if you're flying from Phoenix

Michael Salerno, Arizona Republic
Updated ·2 min read
Heat shimmer causes visual distortion as Delta Airlines flight DL796 from Atlanta touches down at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix on July 14, 2023, the 15th day in a row temperatures reached 110 degrees or more.

Flight cancellations are taking place in two regions, one because of a hurricane forecast and another because of a technical glitch.

Airlines are canceling flights at Tampa International Airport after the airport closed on Tuesday morning in anticipation of Hurricane Idalia, which is approaching Florida's Gulf Coast with landfall expected around 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30. Idalia was forecast to threaten the region with a deadly storm surge, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In the United Kingdom, more than 500 flights were canceled because a technical glitch affected the UK's air traffic control provider, National Air Traffic Services.

"The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions," NATS said in a statement.

Here's how these events are affecting flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Prepare for the holiday: What to expect at Sky Harbor Airport if you're flying on Labor Day weekend

Is Hurricane Idalia canceling flights in Phoenix?

Airlines have canceled flights to and from the Tampa airport because it shut down in preparation for the hurricane.

Flight tracking website FlightAware reported 192 canceled flights originating from Tampa International Airport and 197 canceled flights to Tampa International Airport on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

American, Southwest and Frontier airlines offer service between Phoenix and Tampa. Sky Harbor's website reported that six Phoenix-Tampa flights from Monday, Aug. 28, to Wednesday, Aug. 30, were canceled.

If you have a flight to Tampa, download your airline's app and enable notifications for the latest updates.

Is the UK flight disruption canceling flights in Phoenix?

FlightAware data showed American Airlines and British Airways' Phoenix-London flights each took off Monday and landed Tuesday more than four hours later than scheduled. The data did not say whether the U.K.'s air traffic control outage was the reason for the delay.

Both airlines' upcoming flights between Phoenix and London were on time as of Tuesday morning.

NATS, the U.K.'s air traffic control provider, encouraged people with flights to and from the U.K. to contact their airline for more information on how the disruption may impact their flight.

Tech glitches included: What to do about these 3 things that could wreck your flight plans

Reach the reporter at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @salerno_phx.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why are flights canceled? What travelers need to know