Over 4,500 US flights canceled as winter weather impacts multiple areas
A large winter storm brought severe disruptions to flights on Thursday, particularly in the nation's mid-section.
Airports from Texas to Illinois faced wintry conditions, as an unbroken line of winter storm warnings stretched from Texas to Maine. As of 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, 4,649 flights in the U.S. were canceled, according to FlightAware. It's the most cancelations in a single day in a year.
North Texas was particularly impacted.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines led the cancelations, over 1,000 of its flights axed, or 30% of its schedule. At its home airport of Dallas Love Field (DAL), 83% of all of the departures and 78% of all of the arrivals were canceled, a total of 357 flights, which includes other operators.
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The situation was not any better across the metroplex at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where over 1,200 flights were canceled. That airport serves as the largest hub for Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which had asked the Federal Aviation Administration to impose a ground stop for its mainline and regional operations into the airport.
American had canceled 703 flights or 23% of its schedule. One of its wholly-owned regional airlines, Envoy Air, canceled 557 flights, or 61% of its schedule.
Regional airline Republic Airways, which operates for American, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, canceled 320 flights, or 31% of its schedule. The nation's largest regional airline, SkyWest Airlines, canceled 333 flights, or 15% of its schedule. SkyWest operates flights for the same carriers as Republic, and also operates flights for Alaska Airlines.
More: Here’s what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled
Another American hub, Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), saw about 25% of its arrivals and departures canceled on Thursday, or 534 flights in total. That airport is also a hub for United, which had so far canceled 227 flights, or 12% of its schedule. Denver International Airport, another United hub, saw about 13% of its arrivals and departures canceled, or about 221 flights in total.
Other airports impacted on Thursday included Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL), John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
The storms are forecasted to continue moving east over the next two days, likely bringing further cancellations and delays. As of 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, nearly 1,000 flights had already been canceled for Friday.
Featured 2016 file photo by John McDonnell / The Washington Post via Getty Images.
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