Storm: Flight cancellations top 5,000
Airlines have grounded more than 5,000 flights and delayed thousands more since Saturday because of the latest winter storm to snarl flights.
Monday was off to an especially rough start for fliers, with nearly 2,800 flight cancellations across the nation as of 3:15 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Many of those cancellations were preemptive, canceled on Sunday by airlines that were reluctant to fly their planes and crews into airports forecast to receive poor weather.
The hardest-hit airport so far Monday was Washington's Reagan National Airport (DCA), where all flights were grounded until about 3 p.m. ET as crews worked to clear snow and ice from runways and taxiways.
More broadly, Monday's problems came on the heels of about 2,000 cancellations on Sunday and another 480 on Saturday. Combined, about 5,300 flights have been grounded across the USA during that time.
Most big airlines eased rebooking rules for passengers scheduled to fly through airports in the storm's path. Airlines advised customers scheduled to fly Monday to check ahead on the status of their flights before heading to the airport.
Monday's most-severe flight disruptions were being reported at DCA, though major problems affected airports across the region.
More than 680 flights — about 75% of the airport's entire daily schedule — had been grounded at DCA as of 3:15 p.m. ET. The storm dropped about six inches around the nation's capital before tapering off Monday afternoon.
Runways remained closed at DCA into the afternoon, before finally reopening around 3 p.m. ET.
"Open for business! Main runway 1/19 reopened moments ago. We're expecting our first arrival shortly," the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a tweet from 3:07 p.m. ET.
The Monday cancellation percentages were lower but still significant at the region's other two big airports, Washington Dulles (more than 20% canceled) and Baltimore/Washington (more than 30%).
Poor weather also was forecast Monday for New York and Philadelphia, metro areas that are home to four of the nation's busiest — and most delay-prone — airports.
Around 240 of Monday's flights had been canceled at New York LaGuardia as of 12:10 p.m. ET, a figure that represented close to 20% of the daily schedule there, according to FlightAware. Close to 15% of Monday's flight schedule had been canceled at New York JFK and Newark Liberty airports.
In Philadelphia – a big hub for American merger partner US Airways — more than a third of Monday's flight schedule had been grounded as of 12:10 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware.
A number of other busy airports were being affected as well. Among those reporting significant cancellation numbers for Monday as of 10 a.m. ET: Boston; Buffalo; Nashville; Norfolk, Va.; Pittsburgh; Raleigh/Durham; Richmond, Va.; and Westchester County, N.Y.
Even in Florida, FlightAware counted 5% of the entire Monday flight schedule as canceled as of 10 a.m. ET at the Fort Lauderdale and Orlando airports. Those were likely preemptive cancellations on flights that had been scheduled to fly to Washington, Baltimore or other points in the Northeast.
The worst-hit airport on Sunday was Dallas/Fort Worth, the biggest hub for American Airlines. More than 580 combined arrivals and departures had been canceled at that airport.
