Airlines scrap 4,400 U.S. flights as winter storm disrupts holiday travel

Washington, Dec. 23 (BNA): More than 4,400 flights were canceled over two days due to a strong winter storm hitting the United States, coinciding with the start of the holiday season, which some expect may be the busiest ever.

More than 2,350 US flights were canceled Thursday and another 2,120 canceled on Friday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware, while commuter rail carrier Amtrak canceled dozens of trains over Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for tens of thousands.

Another 8,450 flights were delayed Thursday — including more than a third of those operated by American Airlines (AAL.O), United Airlines (UAL.O), and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N).

Southwest canceled 865 flights Thursday, about a fifth of all its scheduled flights, and has already canceled another 550 for Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the winter storm has caused a blizzard in the Midwest, with significant travel disruptions expected in Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis-St. pee.

Delta Airlines (DAL.N), which canceled 140 of its 4,400 flights Thursday and 90 Friday flights per FlightAware, warned, “Additional cancellations will be necessary Friday as the storm continues to affect operations in Detroit and the Northeast.”

As of 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday (0030 GMT), 25% of flights departing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and 37% of flights departing at Chicago Midway had been cancelled, while 27% of flights departing Denver had been cancelled.

Amtrak said it canceled dozens of trains scheduled in the Midwest over Christmas due to weather conditions, including trains in Michigan, Illinois and Missouri and trains between New York and Chicago.

Brandon Mathis, 24, was at LaGuardia Airport in New York seeking to get to Atlanta, Georgia, to join the rest of his family in the Christmas festivities. He said his flight was cancelled.

“We try to look on our phones. Figure out other ways. Maybe even take a bus from here to Atlanta, which would take us about 21 hours. So, that’s really inconvenient. But anything we can do to just get there is what we’ll do.”

In the seven days ending Wednesday, TSA said it screened nearly 16.2 million passengers, just below the 16.5 million screened in the same period in 2019, the pre-COVID pandemic.

Last year’s holiday was marred by an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights.

US airlines said earlier this week that they were waiving change fees and fare differences for passengers in a range of affected areas.

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