“The methodology of the Airline ImPax Report is sound and the data comprehensive. Delays are organised using logical segmentation, which humanises the scope of the disruption data, making it highly useful and actionable for the aviation industry.”
Henry Harteveldt, President, Atmosphere Research Group
Latest: March 2026
This month’s report analyses the disruption data of 264 airlines totalling 573,425 disrupted flights, across 2,627,339 planned flights, globally.
Global aviation remained relatively resilient in March, with flight volumes declining by less than 2% month-on-month. Beneath this stability, however, disruption was highly concentrated. The Middle East crisis significantly impacted global flows, with the Gulf region hardest hit—recording a year-on-year traffic decline of over 20% as airspace closures disrupted key hub operations. At the same time, jet fuel prices spiked amid Strait of Hormuz instability, adding cost pressure across the industry, while the US system faced renewed strain from staffing shortages and weather events. Impacts were uneven across the industry, with Tier 3 and 4 carriers disproportionately affected due to limited network flexibility and weaker balance sheets. The result was a fragmented global network, higher operating costs, and increased volatility despite relatively stable headline demand.
Global aviation remained relatively resilient in March, with flight volumes declining by less than 2% month-on-month. Beneath this stability, however, disruption was highly concentrated. The Middle East crisis significantly impacted global flows, with the Gulf region hardest hit—recording a year-on-year traffic decline of over 20% as airspace closures disrupted key hub operations. At the same time, jet fuel prices spiked amid Strait of Hormuz instability, adding cost pressure across the industry, while the US system faced renewed strain from staffing shortages and weather events. Impacts were uneven across the industry, with Tier 3 and 4 carriers disproportionately affected due to limited network flexibility and weaker balance sheets. The result was a fragmented global network, higher operating costs, and increased volatility despite relatively stable headline demand.
February 2026 saw global aviation challenged by a mix of severe winter weather in North America and Europe, widespread operational delays across Asia-Pacific hubs, and significant airspace disruptions stemming from escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that forced reroutes and grounded flights at key international gateways. While Europe and APAC hubs logged thousands of delays and scattered cancellations, conflict-related closures around the Gulf led to rippled impacts worldwide. Overall flight volumes decreased 6% from January 2026, and cancellations plunged by more than 60% globally, reflecting improving recovery amid persistent volatility.
January 2026 opened with a complex global aviation disruption landscape, as airlines navigated winter weather volatility, air traffic control staffing constraints, ongoing supply chain fragility, and sporadic geopolitical airspace restrictions dominating industry headlines. Despite these pressures, operational performance showed measurable improvement. Global flight volumes declined 5% month on month, reflecting seasonal demand softening, while the share of flights experiencing delays or cancellations fell 15% compared with December 2025. Amid heightened scrutiny from regulators and passengers, improved recovery capability and network resilience is trending in the right direction entering the new year.
December 2025 marked a sharp escalation in global airline disruption as demand surged into the holiday peak. Global flight volumes increased by 6.5% compared to November, significantly raising system strain across regions. As a result, delays and cancellations rose by approximately 20% month-on-month, driven by a combination of winter weather, industrial action, air traffic flow constraints, and airline operational fragility. Europe saw the most sustained, network-wide disruption, while Asia experienced major carrier-specific failures and weather impacts. In North America and other regions, isolated safety incidents and financial pressures added further volatility, making December one of the most disruptive months of 2025.
Global airline disruption was driven by several high-impact events, including the worldwide grounding of Airbus A320 aircraft, which forced thousands of cancellations, and widespread operational issues across major European carriers. India experienced severe turbulence as IndiGo cancelled more than 1,200 flights, while volcanic-ash restrictions added further strain. In the United States, the federal government shutdown triggered FAA-mandated 10% flight cuts, contributing to more than 9,500 cancellations and extensive delays. Although global flight volumes fell by around 10% and disrupted flights declined nearly as much, disrupted passenger numbers increased slightly, showing that large airlines bore responsibility for disproportionately high-impact disruptions across fewer but fuller flights.
In North America, the U.S. government shutdown caused persistent FAA staffing shortages, producing widespread flight delays and cancellations at major hubs. In Europe, over 1,700 delays and 35 cancellations affected major airports such as London, Paris, and Dublin. Asia-Pacific saw operational disruptions in Jakarta, Bangkok, and Seoul, while storms in New Zealand forced hundreds of cancellations. Latin America recorded over 200 delays and 43 cancellations across Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile. In the Middle East & Africa, supply-chain and crew issues continued. Overall, global delays rose 2%, matching a 2% flight-volume increase, while cancellations fell 10%, impacting 250,000 fewer passengers month-on-month.
September 2025 marked a partial recovery in global aviation stability. Flight volumes fell 7.5% from August as carriers adjusted capacity amid economic and seasonal slowdowns. Despite fewer flights, overall disruptions dropped by more than 20%, while cancellations declined 14%, signaling improved operational management following summer chaos. Europe grappled with cyberattacks and drone incidents; ME&A faced geopolitical and infrastructure pressures; and Latin America contended with airline scheduling issues. Although reliability improved, persistent cyber, staffing, and supply chain risks kept global aviation resilience under scrutiny.
In August 2025, global aviation endured major disruptions yet showed improved reliability. United Airlines’ tech outage delayed 1,000+ flights, Air Canada’s strike grounded 130,000 passengers daily, and Typhoon Podul forced cancellations in Taiwan. Newark ATC failures, weather chaos, a United diversion to Greenland, and Virgin Australia’s lavatory breakdown added to turmoil. Despite this, global flight volumes dipped just 1.2%, delays dropped 10% versus July, and cancellations improved 30%. Pakistan’s airspace ban further strained routes, but overall, the industry demonstrated resilience, with operational performance improving month-on-month despite headline-grabbing crises across North America, Asia, and Australia.
In July 2025, global aviation was severely disrupted across all regions. Europe faced a crippling French ATC strike and a UK radar failure, grounding thousands of flights. In the U.S., storms, IT failures, and extreme turbulence caused mass delays and injuries. Asia-Pacific contended with typhoons and monsoon-related disruptions, notably in Hong Kong. While Latin America saw no major crises, capacity constraints stressed operations. The Middle East & Africa were hit hardest by conflict-driven airspace closures. Disruptions rose 17.5% globally—far outpacing the 6.5% increase in flight volumes—with cancellations up over 20%, making July one of aviation’s most chaotic months on record.
In June 2025, global air travel was severely impacted by geopolitical tensions, weather events, and operational failures. Middle East airspace closures disrupted APAC, ME&A, Europe, and North America, forcing thousands of reroutes. Storms hit major hubs in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, while ATC and tech issues further strained networks. Disruptions rose sharply—up to 20% in some regions—despite modest changes in flight volumes, affecting millions of passengers worldwide.
May 2025 was an eventful month for the aviation industry, marked by a series of disruptions across key global regions. Europe continued to grapple with strikes at major hubs, while in the U.S., power outages and a shortage of maintenance crews grounded over 4,000 flights across two Tier 1 carriers. In APAC, severe weather and infrastructure issues led to further delays, and in the Middle East, ongoing security concerns prompted major airlines to suspend select routes.
April 2025 saw a number of high profile aviation disruptions including the major Iberian outage that grounded 500 flights, turmoil in Newark that cancelled several hundred flights and has triggered plans to update systems over the coming years, and escalating tensions between India and Pakistan that has seen almost 30 airports pausing operations. Flight volumes have remained steady month-on-month, with a +15% in overall disrupted passengers.
Despite disruptive events that included a major fire in Heathrow impacting 200,000 passengers, ATC strikes in central Europe, and adverse weather systems in North America and the broader APAC region, flight cancellation percentages remained steady overall (MoM) but the impact skewed toward Tier 1 carriers with higher flight volumes. Therefore passengers affected by cancellations increased by almost 10% (+270K) globally.
Although February saw aviation labour strikes in Europe, layoffs in North America, and terrifying occurrences that included the flipping of a Delta flight upon landing, there was a 19% decrease in passengers impacted by medium and major delays, and cancellations.
January is a big month as it is a hangover of northern hemisphere holiday travel, southern hemisphere seasonal travel, and it leads into Chinese New Year. While flight volumes and disrupted flights remained steady (MoM). There was a 38% increase in passengers impacted by a cancelled flight. Let’s dig into the data!
December – and the holiday season – saw a 6% increase in overall flight volumes and a 19% increase in disrupted flights worldwide. This resulted in 100K more passengers that experienced a cancelled flight compared to November.
November saw a decrease in overall flight volumes by 12% and a 13% decrease in disrupted flights, but only a 7% drop in disrupted passengers compared to last month. Let’s dig into the data!
October – which included some notable storms – saw an increase in overall flight volumes by 3% but a decrease in disruptions by approx. 12% decrease in disrupted flights, with a >20% decrease in disrupted passengers compared to last month.
As Summer, peak-season comes to a close, September saw a decrease in overall flight volumes by 8% resulting in a >25% decrease in disrupted flights, and approx. 15m less disrupted passengers compared to last month.
While flight volumes sustained (+3m) month-on-month, there were an estimated 13 million less passengers disrupted by medium/major delays and cancellations worldwide. Let’s dig into the data!
Due to a global outage caused by a routine update thousands of flights were grounded resulting in a 19% increase in disruptions month-on-month. Let’s dig into the data!
Peak holiday travel is coming to a close in the Northern Hemisphere but disruptive weather systems persist. High volume summer travel continues in the Southern Hemisphere. Check out the full report!
