More than 5,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. due to a heavy snowstorm
More than 5,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. due to a heavy snowstorm
More than 5,000 flights have been canceled in the United States after a heavy snowstorm disrupted airports across the United States and upset the plans of many thousands of vacationers.
Nearly 2,700 flights were canceled as late as Thursday, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website. Even the Amtrak passenger railroad canceled dozens of trains for Christmas, disrupting holiday travel plans for thousands of people.
Due to severe winter weather, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed “delays” to combat icing at a number of U.S. airports.
The FAA said in a statement that “a severe snow storm moving across the Great Lakes to the northeast will have a major impact” on flights, adding that “flight delays are possible from Boston to metropolitan D.C. airports as well as international airports: Seattle-Tacoma, Portland airports, and Aspen Airport in Colorado.”
As of 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time Friday morning, 40 percent of departing flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had been canceled. The FAA announced Friday morning that flights were suspended because of snow and ice.
More than 40 percent of departing flights from Detroit airports were canceled, and 18 percent at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour are expected Friday.
American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines accounted for more than 14 percent of the delayed flights.
Southwest canceled 800 flights Friday, about one-fifth of the airline’s scheduled flights, while Alaska Airlines canceled 321, or 41%, of its flights.