Why more US planes are getting stuck on the tarmac
Extended tarmac delays are on the rise in the US. That's the official name for when you're sitting on a plane, it gets delayed, and then you're stranded on the runway for more than three hours.
The US used to have lots of these. In 2009, there were more than 800. But over the last decade, the problem was mostly fixed. That number dropped to about a dozen a year.
But recently, these delays have come roaring back and 2026 is on pace to break the record. So why is this type of delay rising so quickly? In this episode, Katty Kay speaks with Nicholas Florko, a staff writer at The Atlantic, who's done a deep dive on why these tarmac delays are getting so much worse and what that means for all of us as travellers.
