Severe weather swept over Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and other airports on March 5, 2025, impacting hundreds of flights. The North Carolina airport witnessed about 179 cancelations, the most of any US airport on the day.
Origin and airport destination cancelations
On Wednesday, the Charlotte area witnessed severe weather, including thunderstorms and strong winds, which impacted flights and other activities in the region. According to FlightAware, up to 179 flights within, into, or out of the US at Charlotte Douglas were canceled, and 351 were delayed.
Photo: Charlotte Douglas International Airport
About 85 (10%) flights from Charlotte were canceled, while 196 (24%) were delayed. Meanwhile, 94 (11%) flights to the airport were canceled, while 155 (19%) were delayed. American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines was the most severely affected, with 130 (39%) cancelations and 71 (21%) delays.
Charlotte Airport had earlier noted on its X page that bad weather could delay, disrupt, and divert flights on March 5. Flightradr24 shows that American Airlines started canceling several flights early Wednesday morning. Some flights were also diverted to Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Atlanta. The top five airlines affected by cancelations and delays are as follows:
Airline Canceled Delayed PSA Airline 130 (39%) 72 (22%) American Airlines 28 (3%) 177 (24%) Piedmont 16 (8%) 56 (29%) Endeavor Air 5 (27%) 5 (27%) Delta 0 (0%) 11 (31%)
Related 3rd Charlotte-Originated Flight In 1 Week Returns Due To Mechanical Issues Three aircraft have returned to the ground shortly after takeoff from Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Operations returning to normal
Flights around 9 am were the most impacted, as high winds and heavy rain were reported around the airport. By 11 am, the storms had started moving out of the Charlotte metro, and operations had started recovering. At the time of publishing on March 6, about five flights to Charlotte had been canceled, while 19 were delayed. However, while 16 flights from the airport were delayed, there were no cancelations.
FlightAware showed 935 cancelations and 6,345 delays within, into, or out of the US yesterday. Charlotte had the most cancelations of any US airport, followed by Reagan National Airport (DCA), with a total of 139 cancelations. Globally, Brisbane had the most cancelations, with over 200 flights affected.
Australia’s Brisbane Airport faced more severe weather conditions as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approached. All passenger flights in and out of the airport have been suspended until further notice, and operations will only resume when it is safe to do so. According to multiple news channels, the cyclone is expected to make landfall near Brisbane as a Category 2 storm on Friday or Saturday.
However, on March 5, PSA Airlines remained the most affected airline globally, with 248 canceled flights. It was followed by American Airlines and Republic with 111, Virgin Australia with 93, Air China with 92, Qantas with 85, and Jetstar with 79. Today, the most affected airports are Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, while the most affected airlines are Virgin Australia, Qantas, and Jetstar. Across the US, there were 1,354 delays and 95 cancelations.
Operations at Charlotte Douglas
Charlotte Douglas remains one of the busiest airports in the US . In 2024, 58.8 million travelers passed through the airport, marking a 10% increase from the previous record of 53.4 million set in 2023. The number of international passengers grew from 2.1 million in 2023 to 2.4 million in 2024. The airport saw the most passengers on record in a single day on May 16, when 45,304 passengers passed through CLT.
Photo: Charlotte Douglas International Airport
The airport expects significant progress in 2025, with the ongoing expansion of the Destination CLT terminal projects. Expansion of the terminal lobby began in 2019 and is expected to finish this year, adding 175,000 square feet to the lobby and renovating 191,000 square feet of existing space.
According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, there are over 5,000 weekly flights scheduled from Charlotte. As of March 2025, American Airlines is the largest operator out of the airport with 2,685 weekly flights, followed by PSA with 1,175 and Piedmont with 714. The airport’s top destinations are La Guardia, Orlando, and Atlanta.
Severe Weather Leads To Charlotte Douglas International Airport Having Most Cancelations In The US
