TAMPA, Fla. — Flight cancellations and delays rolled over into Tuesday morning at Tampa International Airport, after severe weather affected flights around the country.
What You Need To Know
More than 200 flights were canceled and 240 more were delayed in Tampa on Monday
Tuesday started with over 40 cancellations at TPA
Severe weather on Monday was source of air travel issues nationwide
FLIGHT STATUS: Flight data from Tampa International Airport
Tuesday began with more than 40 flight cancellations at TPA, and dozens more delays. That number continued to climb throughout the morning.
The rough morning for air travel came after more than 200 flights were canceled and 240 more were delayed in Tampa on Monday as rounds of severe weather hit different parts of the country. Out of 607 flights planned in Tampa on Monday, few were unaffected.
Making matters worse, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a brief ground stop for flights coming into TPA Monday afternoon due to thunderstorms.
After more than 200 cancellations on Monday at @FlyTPA – it’s a tough start to the morning as airlines work to get back on track.
Before 8 a.m. we saw 47 cancellations and almost 100 delays to start Tuesday @bn9weather @bn9 pic.twitter.com/HCg7MIJXhw
— Angie Angers (@angie_angers) March 17, 2026
Commercial airline pilot Angel Rosado said on Monday that planes were stuck on the ground at airports impacted by weather which caused a trickle-down effect.
“There’s always hundreds and hundreds of airplanes in the air. If they were all to come to a stop at the same time, there would be no room for everybody — so what you’re seeing here is a little subset of that,” he explained.
In situations like this, major airlines call for their reserve pilots to take over. That helps with staffing issues when scheduled pilots can’t make it to their flight due to being grounded at other locations.
“I know a few reserve pilots in Tampa right now who want to stay on reserve, they love being the backup standby pinch hitter pilot for you, because it gives them a lot of downtime when the weather is really great which is the majority of the time,” Rosado said. “They do stay fresh with their training though, they go to simulators and whatnot, but these pilots are standing by and ready to go whenever there is an event like this.”
Rosado said many of the legacy carriers have a team of standby pilots at different locations. That isn’t always the case with smaller, regional carriers.
Tampa is already dealing with an influx of passengers due to spring break travel. The airport said it expects up to 80,000 passengers a day to pass through until April 13.
A spokesperson for Tampa International Airport said they were not seeing any significant delays at security screening checkpoints.