According to data compiled by CNN, 3.7% of flights leaving Pittsburgh were canceled between May 28 and July 13, the sixth most in the country.
Cancellations, delays, and other disruptions have wrought havoc on airports this summer, as air travel nears pre-pandemic levels while the airline industry struggles to recover staff from sweeping layoffs.
An airport spokesperson tells Pittsburgh City Paper that most of the cancellations were caused by disruptions at larger regional hubs where a high number of outbound flights from Pittsburgh are destined to.
"Flights to cities on this list, such as New York, Boston and Charlotte, make up a significant portion of passenger demand at Pittsburgh International Airport," an airport spokesperson writes in an email. "As such, the majority of our cancellations are due to operational challenges at destination airports, not PIT."
While cancellations have run high at Pittsburgh, it did not make the top 10 airports list for long delay times, according to the same data compiled by CNN.
Before the pandemic, more than 9 million air passengers traveled through Pittsburgh each year. That number dropped to about 3.6 million in 2020, then jumped back up to 6.3 million in 2021. This year, passenger numbers are again ticking up, but remain below levels set in 2019.
"We continue to see a strong rebound in demand, with year-to-date passenger numbers at 81% of pre-pandemic levels," the spokesperson says.
