By Aeruxo — Licensed Flight Dispatcher | 15+ Years in Airline Operations
September 2025. Super Typhoon Ragasa—Category 5, sustained winds of 230 km/h, the most powerful storm the world saw that year. It tore through the Philippines, slammed into Taiwan, shut down Hong Kong International Airport for nearly 36 hours, and forced the cancellation of over a thousand flights across Asia. Cathay Pacific alone scrapped more than 500 services. Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded.
I watched it unfold from my desk in the OCC. We had flights scheduled to Taipei, Manila, and Okinawa—all directly in the storm’s path. The decisions started three days before the typhoon hit and did not stop until two days after it passed. Cancel or operate? Reroute or delay? How many aircraft can we reposition out of the danger zone before the airports close? When do we tell passengers?
If you are planning typhoon season flights to Japan, Taiwan, or Southeast Asia, this guide gives you the operational reality
from someone who has managed these disruptions for 15 years.
This is not unusual. Every year between June and November, the Western Pacific produces an average of 25-30 typhoons. For a Korean low-cost carrier operating to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the rest of Southeast Asia, typhoon season is not an occasional disruption—it is a months-long operational reality that shapes everything we do.
This article explains how typhoons affect flights and how airlines manage these disruptions in real operations. Not the generic “check your flight status” advice you find everywhere else. The real story of how typhoons affect flights, how airlines and dispatchers manage them, and exactly what you can do to protect your trip.
Key Takeaways
- Typhoon season in the Western Pacific runs from June through November, with peak activity in August and September. This directly affects flights to Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and southern China.
- Airlines begin tracking typhoons 5 days before impact and start making cancellation decisions at 48-72 hours out. Proactive cancellation is safer and cheaper than reactive scrambling.
- Your flight will never fly through a typhoon. Airlines cancel, reroute, or delay—they do not send aircraft into typhoon conditions. The risk is disruption, not danger.
- Recovery after a typhoon takes 1-3 days because aircraft and crews are scattered across the network. Even after the skies clear, the schedule does not return to normal immediately.
- The single best thing you can do is build flexibility into your itinerary—buffer days, travel insurance, and refundable tickets during typhoon season can save you enormous stress and money.
This article is based on real-world experience inside an airline Operations Control Center (OCC), where flight dispatchers manage typhoon-related disruptions across Asia.
1. Typhoon Season 101: When, Where, and How Bad
The Western Pacific is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth. It produces more typhoons per year than any other ocean basin, and those typhoons are often the most intense storms on the planet.
When: The official typhoon season runs from June through November, with the highest concentration of storms in August, September, and October. However, typhoons can form outside this window—I have dealt with late-November storms that caught travel plans off guard.
Where: Typhoons in the Western Pacific typically form east of the Philippines and track generally northwest toward a range of possible landfall points: the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, mainland Japan (especially southern and western coasts), Vietnam, Hong Kong, and southern China. The exact track of each typhoon determines which flights and airports are affected.
For Korean travelers, the routes most frequently affected are:
- Okinawa (Naha) — Sits directly in the primary typhoon corridor. Flight cancellations are a near-certainty during direct typhoon hits, which happen multiple times per season.
- Taipei (Taoyuan/Songshan) — Taiwan is struck or brushed by typhoons several times each season. The September 2025 Super Typhoon Ragasa caused massive disruptions to Taiwan flights.
- Manila (NAIA) — The Philippines receives the highest number of typhoon landfalls in Asia. During the November 2025 Super Typhoon Uwan, AirAsia alone cancelled 45+ flights in a single day.
- Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City — Central Vietnam is vulnerable to typhoons, particularly from September through November.
- Hong Kong and Southern Japan — Less frequently hit directly, but often affected by the outer circulation of nearby typhoons.
Understanding this geography is the first step. If you are planning a trip to any of these destinations between July and October, you are traveling during the statistical peak of typhoon risk. That does not mean you should not go—but it means you should plan accordingly.
2. Inside the OCC: How Dispatchers Manage a Typhoon
Typhoon management is the most complex, high-stakes operation a flight dispatcher undertakes. It unfolds over days, involves dozens of simultaneous decisions, and affects every department in the airline. Here is how it actually works from my desk.
Day 5-4 Before Impact: Monitoring and Scenario Building
When a tropical storm develops in the Western Pacific, I start watching immediately. I pull up forecast tracks from multiple agencies: the Japan Meteorological Agency typhoon tracker and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). At 5 days out, these tracks often diverge significantly—one model might show the typhoon heading toward Taiwan while another shows it curving toward southern Japan.
I do not make decisions at this stage. I build scenarios. If the typhoon tracks north, which flights are affected on Day X? Which alternate airports become unavailable? If it tracks west instead, how does the picture change? I prepare contingency plans for each major scenario so that when the forecast narrows, we are ready to act without scrambling.
Day 3-2 Before Impact: Decision Phase Begins
By 72 hours out, the forecast track typically converges enough to start making real decisions. This is where the most consequential calls happen.
Aircraft positioning. If we have aircraft scheduled to overnight at an airport in the typhoon’s direct path—say, Naha (Okinawa)—we need to get them out before the airport closes. This might mean operating an empty ferry flight to bring the aircraft back to Incheon, or re-scheduling the previous day’s flights to leave the aircraft in a safe location. During Ragasa, Hong Kong airlines moved 80% of their fleet out of Hong Kong before the storm hit. We make similar decisions on a smaller scale.
Proactive cancellations. Here is something passengers do not always understand: early cancellations are a feature, not a failure. When I cancel a flight 48 hours before departure because a typhoon is forecast to close the destination airport, I am giving passengers time to rebook, adjust their plans, and avoid getting stranded. The alternative—operating the flight and having the aircraft stuck at a closed airport with 180 passengers and no way to get them home—is far worse for everyone.
Crew management. Crew scheduling becomes critical. If a crew operates a flight to a typhoon-threatened destination today, they might get stuck there tomorrow when the airport closes. I coordinate closely with crew control to ensure we do not position crews where they cannot get out.
Day 1-0: The Storm Hits
When the typhoon reaches its target, airports begin closing. The sequence is predictable: first, flight operations are suspended due to winds exceeding safe limits for landing and takeoff. Ground handling ceases. Sometimes the entire airport physically closes, with staff evacuated.
From the OCC, I am managing three simultaneous workstreams:
Airborne flights that were already en route when conditions deteriorated need immediate attention. Do they divert? Can they hold until the worst passes? Do they have enough fuel for either option? These decisions happen in real time with no margin for error.
Ground-stopped flights at affected airports are waiting for conditions to improve. When will the airport reopen? Can we still operate the return flight today, or does it need to be cancelled?
Ripple effects across the network. Every cancelled or delayed flight creates a cascade of domino delays across subsequent flights. An aircraft that should be in Manila tonight is stuck in Incheon because we cancelled the outbound flight. Tomorrow’s Manila-Incheon flight now has no aircraft. The puzzle grows exponentially with each cancellation.
Day 1-3 After: Recovery
This is the phase that passengers find most frustrating—and that I find most exhausting.
The typhoon has passed. The sky is clearing. The airport reopens. But the schedule does not magically return to normal. Here is why:
Aircraft are in the wrong places. During the disruption, we repositioned aircraft away from the storm. Now they need to get back to their assigned starting positions for the regular schedule. This takes ferry flights, creative re-routing, and time.
Crews are out of position. Pilots and cabin crew who were disrupted may be at the wrong airport, or they may have exceeded their rest requirements and need mandatory rest before they can fly again.
Passenger backlog. All the passengers from cancelled flights need to be rebooked onto the next available services. But those services are already fully booked with their own passengers. This creates a rebooking queue that can take 2-3 days to clear during a major disruption.
I have worked typhoon recovery shifts that lasted 12-14 hours straight, rebuilding the schedule flight by flight, coordinating with stations across Japan and Southeast Asia, and trying to get the operation back to normal as quickly as possible. It is controlled chaos—emphasis on both words.
3. Your Flight Will Not Fly Through a Typhoon
I want to be absolutely clear about this, because it is the question I get asked most often: no, your flight will not attempt to fly through a typhoon.
I will not release a flight into typhoon conditions. Period. No pilot would accept such a dispatch. No responsible airline would attempt it. The aircraft will either be cancelled, rerouted around the storm (adding flight time and fuel but avoiding the dangerous weather), or delayed until the typhoon passes.
A typhoon brings sustained winds that can exceed 200 km/h, violent turbulence, torrential rain, and wind shear that makes approach and landing impossible. These conditions are incompatible with safe flight operations. As I wrote in my article on aviation safety, the system is designed to keep you on the ground when conditions are dangerous—not to push you into them.
The risk during typhoon season is not that you will be in danger. The risk is that your travel plans will be disrupted. That is a very different problem, and it is one you can prepare for.
4. A Typhoon I Will Never Forget
Let me share a specific experience that captures the full complexity of typhoon management at a Korean LCC.
It was peak summer—August, the busiest month for Korean travelers to Okinawa and Southeast Asia. A typhoon formed east of the Philippines and was initially forecast to track toward Taiwan. Our Philippines and Taiwan flights were at risk; Okinawa looked safe.
Then the forecast shifted. The typhoon turned north, directly toward Okinawa. Suddenly, every Incheon-Naha and Gimhae-Naha flight for the next 72 hours was threatened.
Day 3: I began coordinating proactive cancellations for the day of expected impact. We cancelled 6 Okinawa flights. The passengers were angry—some had been planning this trip for months. Social media lit up with complaints. But I knew that getting aircraft and passengers out of Naha before the airport closed was the right call.
Day 2: The typhoon accelerated faster than forecast. An evening flight to Naha was already airborne when updated weather showed the typhoon arriving earlier than expected. The aircraft was 90 minutes from Naha. I ran the numbers: would it arrive before the typhoon made the airport unsafe? The margin was too thin. I sent an ACARS message to the crew recommending diversion to Fukuoka. The Captain concurred. We diverted 180 passengers to a city they did not plan to visit.
Day 1: Naha airport closed. All flights cancelled. Two of our aircraft were safely back in Incheon—because we had repositioned them the day before. A third was in Fukuoka with the diverted passengers. I arranged hotel accommodation in Fukuoka and a recovery flight to Naha for the next day, once the typhoon passed.
Day 0 (After): The typhoon moved north, weakening as it went. Naha airport reopened. But now we had aircraft in Incheon, Fukuoka, and nowhere near where the schedule needed them. I spent the next 14 hours rebuilding: ferry flights to reposition aircraft, crew reassignments to cover the new schedule, and coordination with Naha ground handling for the surge of delayed flights that would arrive once we got the operation running again.
Two days later, the schedule was back to normal. Every passenger eventually reached their destination. No one was in danger at any point. But the operational effort behind that outcome was immense—and completely invisible to the travelers.
5. Protecting Your Typhoon Season Flights: A Dispatcher’s Practical Guide
Based on 15 years of managing typhoon disruptions, here is my honest, practical advice for travelers.
5.1 Before You Book
Understand the risk calendar. The peak months for typhoon disruptions to popular Korean travel destinations are:
- Okinawa: July through October (highest risk August-September)
- Taiwan: July through October
- Philippines: June through December (highest risk September-November)
- Vietnam (Central): September through November
- Hong Kong/Southern China: July through September
- Southern Japan (Kyushu, Shikoku): August through September
This does not mean you should avoid these destinations during these months. But you should plan with the awareness that disruption is a real possibility.
Buy travel insurance. Non-negotiable. Specifically, buy a policy that covers weather-related flight cancellations, trip interruption, and additional accommodation costs. On an LCC without extensive rebooking options, travel insurance is the difference between a minor inconvenience and a financial disaster. I have seen passengers stranded for 2-3 days during typhoon recoveries without insurance, paying for hotels and new flights out of pocket. Do not be that person.
Book refundable or flexible tickets when possible. During typhoon season, the premium for a flexible fare is worth every won. The ability to change your dates without penalty when a typhoon appears in the forecast is invaluable.
Build buffer days into your itinerary. If you are flying to Okinawa for a 4-day vacation in August, consider scheduling 5 or 6 days. That extra day gives you a cushion if your outbound or return flight is cancelled. The cost of one extra hotel night is far less than the cost of last-minute rebooking.
5.2 When a Typhoon Appears in the Forecast
Start monitoring early. I use the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) for typhoon tracking. Both provide forecast tracks updated every 6 hours. Many weather apps also provide typhoon tracking overlays. Start checking at 5 days out.
Do not wait for the airline to contact you. Airlines often do not notify passengers of cancellations until 24-48 hours before departure. By that point, rebooking options may be limited. If you see a typhoon heading toward your destination 3-4 days out, proactively contact the airline about your options. Many airlines issue “typhoon travel waivers” that allow free rebooking when a storm is forecast.
Have a Plan B. If your Okinawa flight is likely to be cancelled, can you redirect to a different destination? Can you shift your dates by a few days? Thinking about alternatives before the cancellation happens gives you a head start when everyone else is scrambling at the airport counter.
5.3 When Your Flight Is Cancelled
Use the airline’s app first, not the phone. During typhoon disruptions, airline call centers are overwhelmed. Hold times can exceed 2 hours. Most Korean airlines allow rebooking through their mobile app, which is faster. Rebook online immediately when you get the cancellation notification.
If the app does not work, go to the airport. Counter agents sometimes have access to rebooking options that the app does not show, including seats on other airlines (rare for LCCs, but possible during major disruptions).
Do not fly to the airport unless you have a confirmed flight. During major typhoon disruptions, airports become crowded with stranded passengers. If your flight is cancelled and you do not yet have a confirmed rebook, staying home or at your hotel is often more comfortable than sitting in a packed terminal.
Document everything. Keep all receipts for meals, accommodation, and transportation. Take screenshots of cancellation notifications and rebooking confirmations. You will need these for insurance claims or airline reimbursement requests.
6. Why Airlines Cancel Flights Before the Typhoon Arrives
This is the part that frustrates passengers the most: the airline cancels your flight when the weather at both your departure and destination airports is still perfectly fine. “Why cancel when the typhoon is still two days away?”
The answer involves operational logic that is invisible to passengers but crystal clear from the OCC:
Aircraft positioning. If we send an aircraft to Naha today and the typhoon closes Naha tomorrow, that aircraft is trapped. It cannot fly out. Every flight assigned to that aircraft for the next 2-3 days must be cancelled. By keeping the aircraft in Incheon today, we lose one day of revenue but preserve the aircraft’s availability for the rest of the week.
Crew exposure. If we send a crew to Manila today and the airport closes tomorrow, that crew is stuck. We do not have reserve crews in Manila. The crew cannot fly their next assignment. Their absence triggers a cascade of crew-related cancellations across the network.
Passenger protection. Cancelling 48 hours in advance gives you time to adjust your plans—rebook, reroute, or postpone. Cancelling after you have already arrived at the destination leaves you stranded in a typhoon-affected area with limited options.
From my perspective as the person making these calls: I would rather cancel 12 flights proactively and give 2,000 passengers time to adjust than operate 12 flights and strand 2,000 passengers at typhoon-affected airports with no accommodation, no outbound flights, and no timeline for recovery.
7. The Recovery Phase: Why It Takes So Long
The typhoon has passed. The sky is blue. The airport is open. So why is your flight still cancelled?
Because the airline’s entire network is out of position. Think of it like a massive puzzle where someone has picked up a third of the pieces and scattered them randomly. Every piece needs to get back to its correct position before the puzzle works again.
Typical recovery timeline:
Day 1 after typhoon passes: Airport reopens. First flights depart, but capacity is limited. Priority goes to repositioning empty aircraft and stranded crews. Some passenger flights resume, but at reduced frequency. The rebooking queue is enormous.
Day 2: Operations approach 70-80% of normal capacity. Most stranded passengers are rebooked and moving. Some flights remain cancelled due to aircraft or crew positioning gaps.
Day 3: Full schedule recovery for most airlines. The rebooking backlog is largely cleared. Operations return to normal.
For a major event like Super Typhoon Ragasa in September 2025, recovery at the most affected airports (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou) took 3-4 days due to the sheer scale of the disruption—thousands of cancelled flights and hundreds of thousands of displaced passengers.
Patience during the recovery phase is genuinely important. I know it is frustrating to see blue skies and a cancelled flight. But the logistics of rebuilding an airline schedule after a major typhoon are enormously complex, and they take time even with the best efforts of the OCC team.
8. Lessons from 15 Typhoon Seasons
After 15 years of managing typhoon operations at a Korean LCC, here is what I have learned:
Respect the forecast, but do not panic at it. A typhoon appearing in the 5-day forecast does not mean your trip is ruined. Tracks change. Storms weaken. Timing shifts. Start monitoring and preparing, but do not cancel everything at the first sign of a tropical depression.
The airline is not your enemy during a typhoon. We are losing millions of won in cancelled flights, stranded aircraft, and passenger care costs. Every cancellation decision hurts us financially. We cancel because it is the right thing to do for safety and operational integrity, not because we enjoy disrupting your vacation.
Flexibility is the best travel insurance. The travelers who handle typhoon disruptions best are the ones who built flexibility into their plans from the beginning. A rigid, tightly scheduled itinerary during typhoon season is a recipe for stress. A flexible one—with buffer days, refundable bookings, and a willingness to adapt—turns a potential disaster into a minor inconvenience.
The flight planning system works. In all my years of managing typhoons, every passenger on every flight I dispatched has arrived safely at their destination—sometimes later than planned, sometimes at a different airport first, but always safely. The system of proactive cancellation, diversion planning, go-around readiness, and collaborative decision-making between dispatchers and crews ensures that safety is never compromised, even during the worst storms nature can produce.
Learn more about our mission and operational background on the About Aeruxo page.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the worst time to fly in Asia because of typhoons?
The statistical peak of typhoon activity in the Western Pacific is August through October. September tends to produce the strongest storms. If you are flying to Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, or Hong Kong during this window, the probability of encountering a typhoon-related disruption is at its highest. However, typhoons can occur as early as June and as late as December, so awareness is important throughout the broader season.
Will the airline refund my ticket if a typhoon cancels my flight?
Korean airlines generally offer rebooking to the next available flight or a full refund for typhoon-related cancellations, as typhoons are classified as force majeure (circumstances beyond the airline’s control). Most airlines also waive change fees during declared typhoon events. However, specific policies vary by airline—check your booking conditions and the airline’s typhoon travel waiver announcements. Additional costs (hotel, meals, alternative transportation) may or may not be covered by the airline, which is why travel insurance is essential.
Can I check if a typhoon will affect my flight dates?
Typhoons can be forecast approximately 5-7 days in advance, but with decreasing accuracy at longer range. The Japan Meteorological Agency and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center both publish free typhoon track forecasts updated every 6 hours. If you see a typhoon forming 5+ days before your travel dates, start monitoring closely and begin preparing backup plans. At 2-3 days out, the forecast is usually reliable enough to make decisions.
Is it safe to fly the day after a typhoon?
Generally yes—if the airport has reopened and your flight is confirmed. By the day after a typhoon passes, wind and weather conditions have usually improved to safe levels. However, be prepared for delays and reduced service as the airline works through its recovery schedule. The first day after a major typhoon is often chaotic at airports, with long queues, limited information, and frustrated passengers. Arriving early and staying patient is important.
Should I avoid Okinawa during summer because of typhoons?
Not necessarily. Okinawa is a beautiful destination and many summers pass with minimal disruption. The question is whether you can tolerate the risk of 1-2 days of disruption during your trip. If your schedule is rigid—for example, you have a wedding or a non-refundable event on a specific date—typhoon season adds genuine risk. If your schedule is flexible and you have travel insurance, the risk is manageable. Many travelers visit Okinawa every summer and have wonderful trips with no typhoon interference at all.
Do LCCs handle typhoon cancellations worse than full-service carriers?
The safety decisions are identical. However, the recovery experience can differ. Full-service carriers typically have more spare aircraft, larger crew reserves, and interline agreements that allow rebooking on partner airlines. LCCs generally have tighter schedules, fewer spares, and limited or no interline rebooking. This means the rebooking queue at an LCC may take longer to clear after a major disruption. This is a structural reality of the low-cost model, and it is precisely why travel insurance is even more important when flying LCC during typhoon season.
Planning a trip to Asia during typhoon season? Drop a question in the comments—I will help you prepare from a dispatcher’s perspective.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are my own professional opinions based on 15+ years of operational experience. They do not represent the official position of any airline, aviation authority, or regulatory body.
Licensed Flight Dispatcher with 15+ years of experience in airline operations control. Holds FAA Aircraft Dispatcher Certificate and Republic of Korea Flight Dispatcher License (MOLIT). Specializes in flight watch, NOTAM analysis, flight planning, and operational control at a Korean LCC. IOSA audit participant and author of multiple airline operational manuals, including Emergency Response, De-icing, and OCC Procedures.