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OVER the weekend, US airlines canceled flights in anticipation of a winter storm that is expected to bring strong winds and heavy snow across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
The US national weather service said in a warning that Hurricane Nor’easter would create a dangerous snowstorm and make flights nearly impossible.
FlightAware, a flight tracking service, reported about 4,900 US flights were canceled between Friday and Sunday (1/30). Delta Air Lines will suspend operations at LaGuardia and John F Kennedy airports in New York, Newark Liberty airport, New Jersey and Logan airport in Boston, United States from Saturday through Sunday morning (1/30).
The Atlanta-based airline canceled 1,290 flights from Friday to Sunday. Customers who will be traveling are then allowed to reschedule to flights depending on the conditions at no additional charge.
American Airlines also canceled about 1,160 flights due to the significant impact this Northeast hurricane would have, particularly at Logan airport. Affected passengers can rebook flights without change fees.
Similarly, New York-based JetBlue canceled about 500 flights through Sunday including half of its scheduled flights on Saturday. Meanwhile, United Airlines has cut 21% of flights on Saturday.
Hurricane Nor’easter added to the challenges the US airline industry was trying to bounce back from the turbulence caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The increasing number of staff and employees infected with COVID-19 has also forced airlines to cancel flights due to staff shortages.
Southwest Airlines Co on Thursday (1/27) said about 5,000 of its employees had contracted the virus in the first three weeks of January. The company has canceled more than 5,600 flights so far this month, which is expected to cost up to US$50 million in revenue. [tribunnews.com/photo special]
