Air Traffic Control Issues Cause Hundreds of Flight Delays in Florida

A computer malfunction caused delays during one of the busiest travel days of the year.

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It would be reasonable to think that the Southwest cancellations fiasco would be the end of the holiday travel chaos. After a polar vortex, the cancellations seemed like the final hurdle, the last obstacle to overcome before holiday travelers could finally make it out of the liminal spaces of America’s run down airports.

As Franklin Herbert famously said: "There is no real ending." The Dune author was talking about stories, but given what happened at Florida airports on January 2, I think it can also apply to travel chaos. USA Today reports that hundreds of delays occurred across Florida airports, due to an air traffic control computer problem.

According to FlightAware, there were 279 flights delayed at Orlando International, 218 at Fort Lauderdale International, 226 at Miami International, and 124 at Tampa International on January 2.

By 8 pm on Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration shared with USA Today that the agency was working “toward safely returning to a normal traffic rate in the Florida airspace.” By Tuesday, it seems that the delays have mostly reduced. Flight Aware reports that there were 100 delays in Orlando, and all other Florida airports were reporting fewer than 100 delays.

Hopefully, with the holiday travel season coming to an official end for 2023, this might also mark the end of the delays, cancellations, and general chaos that defined 2022 air travel.

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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.