Airline ImPax Report

Global Disruptions Overview

This month’s report analyses the disruption data of 248 airlines totalling 587,740 disrupted flights, across 2,766,769 planned flights, globally.

September saw global aviation move beyond the summer peak, with flight volumes easing by almost 10% as seasonal demand began to fall. Disruption remained widespread, however, driven by a varied mix of operational pressures. Europe faced significant ATC disruption, industrial action and volcanic activity, while severe weather impacted networks across North America and APAC. LATAM also experienced weather-related disruption, including significant thunderstorms affecting Mexico City operations. Typhoon activity caused further disruption across Asia, while geopolitical instability continued to affect the Middle East. Rather than one defining event, September was characterised by multiple, overlapping sources of disruption across the global network.

Asia Pacific

Flight volumes across APAC fell almost 10% in September as the summer peak eased, potentially compounded by significant weather-related disruption across the region. Despite this, most delay metrics improved during the month. Super Typhoon Ragasa severely impacted Hong Kong operations, while volcanic activity caused widespread cancellations and airport closures in Indonesia. Monsoon rains, thunderstorms and flooding created further disruption across major Asian hubs, including Bangkok, while Australia experienced a combination of weather and ATC-related delays. Overall, September saw lower traffic and improved delay performance despite several significant operational events.

Europe

Europe saw disruption increase in September even as flight volumes cooled following the end of the summer peak. Every delay metric increased during the month, with ATC failures and industrial action creating significant disruption across the region. Major UK air traffic control outages affected thousands of flights, while strikes added further pressure in Belgium and Italy. Volcanic activity from Mount Etna also repeatedly disrupted operations in Sicily. Overall, more than two million additional passengers were disrupted compared with September 2025, despite lower seasonal traffic across the European network.

North America

North America saw disruption move in the wrong direction in September, just as the summer peak should have begun to ease. Every delay metric increased during the month, with severe weather repeatedly impacting major hubs including New York, Boston and Chicago. A significant FAA communications failure added further pressure across the Northeast, while a late-month nor’easter drove thousands of additional delays and cancellations. Most notably, the number of disrupted passengers was almost double September 2025 levels, highlighting a challenging transition out of the peak summer travel period.

Middle East and Africa

Ongoing geopolitical instability continued to shape disruption across the Middle East & Africa in September, with airspace constraints, schedule reductions and route suspensions placing sustained pressure on regional operations. Major Gulf hubs continued to experience the knock-on effects of restricted airspace and international airline capacity changes, while industrial action and operational issues caused more localised disruption across Africa. The impact has now become increasingly persistent: disrupted passenger volumes remained around 35% higher than September 2025, continuing a trend seen throughout recent months despite airlines increasingly adapting their operations to regional instability.

Latin America

LATAM saw disruption ease in September, with delay metrics falling by around 10% across the board as flight volumes also declined. Weather and localised operational issues still caused disruption across major hubs in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, but no single event dominated the region. Despite the monthly improvement, the number of disrupted passengers was almost double September 2025 levels. This divergence between flight and passenger impact suggests disruption was disproportionately concentrated among the region’s largest carriers, resulting in significantly more passengers being affected despite fewer disrupted flights overall.