How rainfall and air pollution influence flight delays and its associated economic losses: a case study based on Beijing-Shanghai flight in China?

Flight delays hinder travel efficiency, causing economic losses and posing huge challenges for the aviation industry. While rising flight delays signal the nexus among weather conditions, their specific impacts were still insufficiently understood, especially considering rainfall and air pollution. By integrating 117,218 Beijing-Shanghai flight records with meteorological dataset, this study quantifies how rainfall and air pollution at both departure and arrival cities influence flight delays at hourly, daily, and monthly scales. Rainfall intensity nonlinearly increases delays: from 36.3 min on clear days to 66.2 min in moderate and above rain. Compound rainfall scenarios led to 26–78 % greater delays compared to single-point rainfall condition. Extreme rainfall event resulted in higher cancellation risk and afternoon delay exceeding clear-day delay by over 150 min. Seasonal analysis identified summer accounting for 39.3 % of all delays, largely driven by monsoon rainfall. Winter delays, though lower in magnitude, were significantly influenced by air pollution, which contributed to 25 % of delay hours during this season. Economic losses due to flight delay reached RMB 254 million during study period, about 70 % attributable to rainfall. These multi-scale mechanisms highlight compound weather-pollution interactions, offering a scientific basis for aviation resilience strategies.