San Diego Flight Chaos: New Year's Storm Leads to Numerous Diversions

On New Year's Day, a powerful storm led to the disruption of travel plans for thousands of passengers flying into or out of San Diego. Overwhelming rains caused significant airport problems, including equipment failures and flooding.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 indicated that on January 1, around 40 flights originally bound for San Diego International Airport had to reroute to different airports. The high number of diversions prompted air traffic controllers to engage emergency recovery systems, attempting to facilitate the rerouted aircraft in reaching their scheduled stops.

FlightAware reported that in addition to the diverted flights, 53 were canceled while nearly 270 experienced delays. Approximately 40% of flights encountered delays, largely attributed to a malfunction in airport equipment as noted by an advisory from air traffic control.

A message posted on X by the airport highlighted that adverse weather conditions were major contributors to the flight delays, with resultant road closures due to flooding further complicating transit in the vicinity.

San Diego International Airport ranks as California's third most active airport, with reports of processing more than 25 million travelers in 2024. Requests for comment from both the airport and the Federal Aviation Administration were met with no immediate response, possibly due to the timing outside regular business hours in the US.

Despite the significant number of rerouted journeys, many flights eventually reached San Diego, albeit with much frustration likely experienced by the passengers.

One impacted flight was Japan Airlines Flight 66, which took off from Tokyo and aimed for San Diego. After spending approximately ten hours in the air, the plane was forced to re-route to Los Angeles after circling San Diego. This diversion added a 30-minute leg to Los Angeles before the flight finally made the short hop back to San Diego.

Another case involved Southwest Airlines passengers leaving Sacramento, where Flight 3138 embarked on a seemingly endless journey. After departing, it spent an hour circling the northern Los Angeles area before needing to return to its origin. It wasn't until hours later that the flight finally landed in San Diego, five hours off schedule.

While the majority of diverted flights managed to land in other parts of California, approximately twelve chose to reroute to Phoenix. For instance, a Southwest flight from Baltimore circled near Arizona's capital for an hour before landing there. It then stayed grounded for over three hours before continuing its trip to San Diego, landing approximately five hours late. No response was given by the airline to inquiries sent during non-working hours.

Notably, two private jets departing from Colorado ski resorts were among the few able to successfully land at McClellan-Palomar Airport in San Diego's northern county area, illustrating the targeted relief efforts and resourcefulness in tackling unforeseen weather disruptions.