A powerful winter storm has caused more than 4,400 flights to be canceled over a two-day period in the United States, Reuters reported on December 23.
These flight cancellations coincide with the start of a holiday season that some predict could be the busiest ever.
More than 2,350 US flights were canceled on Thursday, while 2,120 have been canceled for Friday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
Passenger railroad Amtrak canceled dozens of trains during Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for thousands.
Another 8,450 flights were delayed on Thursday – including more than a third operated by American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
Southwest canceled 865 flights on Thursday, about a fifth of all its scheduled flights, and had already canceled 550 for Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that a winter storm was bringing blizzard conditions to the Midwest, which was expected to cause major travel disruptions in Chicago, Detroit and the Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Delta Air Lines, which canceled 140 of 4,400 flights on Thursday and 90 on Friday, FlightAware warned, “additional cancellations will be necessary on Friday as the storm affects operations in Detroit and the Northeast.”
As of 7:30 a.m. ET Thursday (0030 GMT), 25 percent of departing flights at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and 37 percent of flights at Chicago Midway were canceled, while 27 percent of departing Denver flights were canceled .
Amtrak said it is canceling several dozen scheduled train trips in the Midwest through Christmas due to weather conditions, including trains in Michigan, Illinois and Missouri, and trains between New York and Chicago.
Brandon Mattis, 24, was seeking to fly to Atlanta, Georgia, to join his family for Christmas celebrations at New York’s La Guardia Airport. He said that his flight has been cancelled.
“We are trying to find on our phones. Find out other routes. Can also take a bus from here to Atlanta, which will take us around 21 hours. So, it’s really inconvenient. But we can do anything Are just there to get (is) what we’re going to do.”
In the seven days ending Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration said it screened about 16.2 million passengers, which is slightly lower than the 16.5 million it screened in the same period pre-Covid pandemic in 2019.
Last year’s holiday period was hit by an outbreak of COVID-19 among employees, which forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights.
US airlines said earlier this week that they were waiving change fees and the difference in fares for passengers in several affected areas.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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