WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On the busiest travel day of the year Sunday, the three South Florida airports were experiencing major delays: Palm Beach International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport.
Three days after Thanksgiving, PBIA is experiencing a ground delay of 63 minutes because of runway construction and departure delay of 45 minutes and increasing, FLL 45 minutes and decreasing and MIA 3 minutes and decreasing, according to alerts by the Federal Aviation Administration's National Airspace System through 6 p.m. Sunday.
The FAA says the "delay assigned to the departures within 1,200 nautical miles" are because of high volume and the desire to space out the air traffic system.
PBIA's ground delay was listed until 5:59 p.m., according to the FAA.
PBIA's website listed 12 departure delays with eight Jet Blue and 12 delays on arrivals with four with Jet Blue through 6 p.m.
In Fort Lauderdale, there are 55 departure delays and 46 arrival delays.
In Miami, the delays are 33 for departures and 49 for arrivals.
Through Sunday, there were316 delays at FLL, 290 at MIA and 96 at PBIA, according to FlightAware.
Nationally, there were 7,042 delays in and out of the United States but only 46 cancellations.
The Transportation Security Administration said it expected to screen 2.9 million passengers Sunday, “which will likely be the busiest travel day” of the season. Travels were urged arrive at the airport two hours before their scheduled departure time.
The three busiest Thanksgiving travel days are Tuesday and Wednesday before the holiday and the Sunday afterward.
During the 12-day period, TSA expects to screen 30 million passengers.
“For many Americans, Thanksgiving and travel go hand in hand, and this holiday we expect more people on the roads, skies and seas compared to 2022,” Paula Twidale, the senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement.
Besides million of people flying home, a snowstorm that moved over the Rockies and Central Plains has put 14 million people under winter weather alerts, according to the National Weather Service.
