Airlines plan to add flights as they recover from a major winter storm that caused over 8,000 cancellations and delays across the US Northeast.
NEW YORK: US airlines are planning to add flights on Tuesday as they work to recover from a major winter storm. The system forced more than 8,000 cancellations and delays across the Northeast on Monday.
The storm blanketed parts of the region, closing roads and cancelling schools. With cancellations frustrating travellers on Monday evening, carriers like United Airlines said they had early plans to ramp up operations.
They cautioned that conditions remain challenging. On Tuesday, 7% of US flights are expected to be cancelled, down from just over 19% on Monday, according to data from analytics firm Cirium.
A typical day in the US domestic market has 1% cancellations. Southwest Airlines said its plan “is on track to start ramping up operations tomorrow, if conditions permit us to safely do so.”
The Dallas-based low-cost carrier cancelled about 7% of flights on Monday. That was less than its rivals due to the carrier’s limited Northeast exposure.
American Airlines said it had been able to resume operations at Washington Reagan National and Philadelphia airports. Delta and American both said they expect to resume operations at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports and Boston late on Tuesday morning.
Delta also expects to resume Newark flights on Tuesday. JetBlue was especially hard hit, cancelling about 80% of flights due to the storm on Monday, according to data from FlightAware.
The airline said in total it has cancelled 1,600 flights through Wednesday. US passenger railroad Amtrak cancelled dozens of trains between New York and Boston and on other routes in the Northeast.
Several states ordered motorists to remain off roads for non-essential travel for extended periods due to the significant snowfall. American, Delta and United all cancelled about 20% of flights on Monday.
The blizzard dropped more than two-and-a-half feet of snow across parts of the US Northeast.
The Sun Malaysia
