More than 4,000 flights canceled as ice, snow move across U.S.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Snow fell on a ground crew working outside a parked plane at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, today. A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path is spreading rain, freezing rain and heavy snow further across the country.
Airlines canceled more than 4,600 flights today as ice and snow advanced on a swath of the U.S. from Texas to the Northeast for a second day.
More than 50% of flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which intermittently closed runways to treat them for ice and snow. Elsewhere in Texas, more than 80% were scrubbed at Dallas Love Field and about 75% in Austin, according to FlightAware.com. More than 70% of scheduled service was scrubbed at airports in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The storm, which contributed to 2,372 cancellations Wednesday, is expected to hammer the central, eastern and southern U.S. over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service. A winter storm warning was in effect from Texas through Maine.
Southwest Airlines Co. led cancellations — with 1,041, or 30% of its daily schedule — as sleet and ice covered parts of Texas, according to FlightAware.
American Airlines Group Inc., which operates a major hub at Dallas-Fort Worth, said it dropped 1,600 flights, or 28%, of its total including those by regional partners. United Airlines Holdings Inc. said it parked 750 such flights and Delta Air Lines Inc., 390.
