“We are flying alternate routes for seven flights,” Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta Airlines, told FoxNews.com. Polar flights -- those with paths that cross over the North Pole -- can experience communications issues and even expose pilots and passengers to radiation.
To avoid that, Delta switched to preplanned alternate routes for the westbound flights from U.S. cities such as Atlanta, Minneapolis and New York City to Asian cities of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Nagoya.
“It may be 15 to 20 minutes of additional time,” Black said.
Ed Martell, a spokesman for American Airlines, said the company was watching the activity closely.
"We are monitoring the solar flare activity, and while we’ve not changed any routings, we are using lower altitudes for any flights routed above 60 degrees North," he told FoxNews.com.
Read more:
Sunstorm Watch: Planes rerouted as massive solar storm reaches Earth | Fox News
Has CX rerouted or replanned at lower altitudes?