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| Soldiers removed water from a flooded house in Mexico City on Sunday. Henry Romero/REUTERS |
A torrential downpour in Mexico City brought air travel to a grinding halt on Sunday evening, forcing one of Latin America’s busiest airports to suspend operations for hours and leaving thousands of travelers stranded, rerouted, or unexpectedly back where they started. The sudden flooding at Benito Juárez International Airport triggered a chain reaction across the Americas and beyond, with more than 70 flights diverted to other airports and roughly 90 canceled altogether, according to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24.
Airport officials announced on X (formerly Twitter) that aviation authorities had halted operations for three hours due to heavy rainfall combined with dangerously low visibility. For an airport that served over 45 million passengers last year, the closure was nothing short of a logistical nightmare. The suspension began early Sunday evening, and disruptions continued well into Monday morning, as airlines scrambled to reposition planes, reroute crews, and accommodate displaced passengers.
A Night of Diversions and “Flights to Nowhere”
Flight-tracking data showed the first diversions began around 6 p.m. local time. For nearly six hours, no aircraft touched down in Mexico City, leaving pilots with limited choices: divert to another airport or turn back entirely.
Some diversions were short detours, but others became almost absurdly long journeys. Air Canada Flight 993 from Toronto was in the air for three hours before the crew decided to abandon its approach, turning back just south of Houston. Passengers ended up landing back in Toronto at 1:28 a.m., more than five hours after first departing — a so-called “flight to nowhere.”
American Airlines Flight 2417, departing from Dallas-Fort Worth, barely crossed into Mexican airspace before reversing course two hours into its trip. Another American Airlines service from New York City never made it close to Mexico City; instead, it turned around over Alabama, circled over Texas five times, and eventually landed at Dallas-Fort Worth, where the airline could more easily rebook passengers given its hub operations there.
United Airlines faced similar setbacks. A Washington, DC, to Mexico City service turned back over the Gulf of Mexico, touching down in Houston nearly two hours later. A United spokesperson later said all impacted travelers were offered alternative travel arrangements and that operations to the capital had since returned to normal.
International Flights Stranded Hundreds of Miles Away
For passengers traveling long-haul from overseas, the diversions were even more dramatic. After spending 10 hours crossing the Atlantic, an Aeromexico flight from Paris circled over central Mexico before diverting to Guadalajara — about 280 miles from its intended destination. Meanwhile, an Iberia flight from Madrid ended up in Cancún, roughly 800 miles away from the capital, after changing course over the Gulf of Mexico. For many passengers, that meant a completely unplanned overnight stay far from where they had intended to be.
Even for flights that did make it to Mexican airspace on Sunday, not all passengers ended up in the capital. Some found themselves waking up the next day in unfamiliar cities, facing a long bus ride or connecting flight to reach Mexico City.
Record Rainfall and the City’s Purple Alert
The Associated Foreign Press reported that the capital’s government had activated a “purple alert” — its highest level of weather warning — as torrential rain caused widespread flooding. Some areas of Mexico City recorded up to 19 inches of water, overwhelming drainage systems and flooding streets. The city, home to more than 9 million residents, is no stranger to heavy rain during the wet season, but the volume and intensity of this storm created a perfect storm of chaos for both residents and travelers.
The flooding not only impacted airport operations but also snarled ground transportation, making it even harder for diverted passengers to reach the city by road.
Airlines Begin to Resume Operations, But Travelers Still Feel the Impact
By Monday morning, airlines had begun resuming service, with American Airlines confirming that flights were once again departing and arriving at Benito Juárez International Airport. “Safety is our top priority and we thank our customers for their patience,” an airline spokesperson said.
Still, the ripple effects of Sunday’s shutdown will likely continue for days. Crews and aircraft remain out of position, passengers are rebooked onto already full flights, and some international travelers will need additional hotel accommodations while they await new departure times. Aeromexico, Air Canada, and Iberia did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding their operations and passenger rebooking policies.
The incident underscores just how vulnerable global air travel remains to sudden weather events, particularly at major hubs. For Mexico City, the storm was a reminder that its status as a critical gateway for Latin America also makes it a single point of failure — one downpour can disrupt travel across continents.
