Nearly 2,500 flight cancellations reported as winter storm clobbers US

Zach Schonfeld
·2 min read
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Roughly 2,500 U.S.-based flights were canceled on Sunday as a winter storm battered large parts of the country.

A total of 2,498 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled on Christmas Day as of 7:00 p.m. E.T., according to the the flight tracking website FlightAware. An additional 6,061 flights were delayed.

Buffalo Niagara International Airport is closed until Tuesday at 11 a.m., leading to dozens of cancellations there on Sunday.

The airport has recorded more than 40 inches of snow, and 12 people have died in the county as a result of the storm, officials said.

Many airlines’ major hubs across the country have also seen widespread schedule changes.

Denver International Airport, a hub for United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, saw the most cancellations out of any U.S. airport on Sunday. Almost 130 flights, or about 15 percent of the airport’s departing schedule, were canceled, according to FlightAware.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the largest hub for Delta Air Lines, clocked in at No. 2 for the largest number of cancellations, with 113 flights scrubbed there on Christmas Day.

Those locations were followed by Orlando International Airport, Chicago Midway International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Many of those whose flights weren’t canceled still experienced delays.

More than four in 10 flights at Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington and Nashville International Airport were delayed, according to FlightAware.

The flight disruptions come as a winter storm rolls through the U.S., leaving millions of people in freezing temperatures, and many cities covered in snow. The storm stretches from the Great Lakes by Canada to the Rio Grande near the border with Mexico.

According to The Associated Press, approximately 60 percent of the U.S. population experienced some form of a winter advisory or warning. Thousands have lost power because of the weather.

At least 23 people have died as of Sunday night, according to NBC News.

But the impacts have also stretched beyond areas experiencing the winter weather. About a quarter of flights scheduled at Sacramento International Airport on Sunday were canceled, according to FlightAware.

More than 3,400 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled on Saturday, according to FlightAware, and 8,538 delays were reported.

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