BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo, and by default Western New York, loves when they rank high on a list. But this is a list that, if you're traveling, you don't want Buffalo to be on.
According to Department of Transportation data analyzed by InsureMytrip, Buffalo Niagara International Airport ranked No. 1 in cancellations in 2022.
Buffalo beat out Southwest Florida International (Fort Myers, FL), LaGuardia (New York, NY), Newark Liberty International (Newark, NY), and Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington DC) which rounded out the top five.
Some 5.55% of all flights arriving or departing from Buffalo Niagara International Airport were cancelled in 2022, up from 1.43% in 2021.
There is, however, some context that the data, according to the NFTA.
"We had a historic hopefully once in a lifetime blizzard that did close our airport for quite a while," said Kelly Khatib, Communications Manager for the NFTA. "That's definitely something that's going to give you those numbers."
BNIA shut down on December 23 during the historic blizzard and didn't reopen to commercial traffic until December 28.
In November, during the Snovember 2022, the airport had significant cancellations, but did not shut down completely
"So these are extreme circumstances," Khatib said.
In 2021 Buffalo was ranked #37 on this list and in 2020, and # 7 in 2020.
Cancellations weren't just a problem in Buffalo, but nationwide. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there were 33,256 cancellations in 2022 -- the highest since 2014.
"Some of those cancellations, of course, storms aside are predominantly from the hub side," Khatib said. "Airlines tend to cancel flights to and from airports where they have other options for their passengers that day."