While commercial airline flights linking Charleston's Yeager Airport with Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta were ranked among the top 20 flights in the nation for the occurrence of weather delays according to a study released Wednesday, the Charleston airport's overall flight delay rate is only slightly below the national rate, according to airport officials.
The study, commissioned by Stratos Jet Charters, analyzed posted and actual departure and arrival times collected by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics from commercial airports across the nation between January and September of last year. The analysis indicated that the Atlanta-Charleston flights arriving at Yeager experienced weather delays 139.64 times during the study period, making the route the nation's 10th most weather-delayed, while flights from Yeager to Chicago were delayed an average of 121.27 times a year, making that route the nation's 19th most weather-delayed.
Terry Sayre, Yeager Airport's executive director, said Yeager's overall on-time rate for 2015 departures was 79.17 percent, compared with an national average of 80.53 percent for the same period. The Charleston airport's overall on-time rate for 2015 arriving flights was 77.3 percent, compared with a national average of 80.11.
Sayre said that weather delayed flight departures from Yeager are often caused by adverse weather conditions at the destination airport, since flights are capable of departing Yeager in low-visibility conditions caused by fog or snow.
Aircraft operated by charter jet companies such as the one that authorized the study released Wednesday would likely fare no better than their commercial counterparts, since they would have to operate under the same flight rules and weather conditions, Yeager spokesman Mike Plante observed.