Skip to content
Go to Home Page
News

Over 4,500 US flights canceled as winter weather impacts multiple areas

Ethan Klapper
Ethan Klapper
Contributor
Ethan Klapper is a former senior aviation reporter at TPG who focused on the operational side of the airline industry. He joined TPG from Yahoo News in 2021, where he served as senior audience development editor, overseeing social media and audience development strategy. Prior to joining the Yahoo News team in 2018, Ethan worked at HuffPost.
Feb. 03, 2022
•
3 min read
Washington Blizzard
Over 4,500 US flights canceled as winter weather impacts multiple areas
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.

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.

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.

Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

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.

Featured image by The Washington Post via Getty Images
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.