More than 6,030 flights had been grounded nationwide as of 12:30 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware. That figure was likely to grow as a major winter storm continued its trek across some of the nation's busiest airports.
That same storm brought flights to a virtual standstill yesterday at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, the world's busiest airport, and snarled airline schedules at airports across Southeast. By Thursday, the storm shifted north, taking aim at least one major hub for all five of the nation's biggest airlines.
By 12:30 p.m. ET, moderate to extreme flight disruptions were being reported at most commercial airports from Maine to Georgia.
That included the region's busiest hubs in New York, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charlotte and Boston. At least a quarter of Thursday's schedule had been grounded at airports in those cities, with nearly two-thirds of the day's flights canceled as of 12:30 p.m. ET at Washington Dulles, Philadelphia, Washington Reagan National, Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), and Charlotte.
Snow removal crews work to clear the terminal and gate areas so planes will be able to taxi to/from the gates.
Even as far away as Florida and California, airports were counting flight delays by the dozens, in part from the ripple effect of the problems in the East. More than 60 departures had been grounded at Orlando and more than three dozen at Miami, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale. To the west, more than 50 arrivals and about 20 departures had been axed Thursday at Los Angeles. At sunny San Diego, about 24 cancellations were being reported as of 12:30 p.m. ET.
In Washington, both Reagan National and Dulles International airports had suspended all flight operations early Thursday morning.
Washington Dulles officials said it had finally reopened one runway for aircraft arrivals and departures as of 12:37 p.m. ET, though it was unclear if flights would resume immediately. Several inbound flights from Europe are already in the air, and this would appear allow for them to land at Dulles. Other international Dulles-bound fights had diverted to Pittsburgh and other cities in the region.
Elsewhere, flight schedules took a hit at just about every airport — big and small — from Georgia and the Southeast north into Maine and New England.
Most big airlines waived change fees and relaxed rebooking rules for customers ticketed to fly through stormy airports, though the precise details varied by airline.
Thursday's air travel mess comes just a day after the winter storm responsible for the chaos grounded nearly the entire flight schedule at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International.
Only about 300 of the normal 2,500 daily flights operated there, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That forced hometown Delta to ax nearly half of its nationwide flight schedule in a move that sent delays and cancellations to all corners of the nation. Atlanta's No. 2 airline — Southwest and subsidiary AirTran — canceled its entire flight schedule there Wednesday, saying it hoped to restart flights by early afternoon.
Wednesday also was a rough day in Charlotte — a major hub for US Airways — where more than 50% of the day's schedule was grounded.
Both Atlanta and Charlotte were having a mixed recovery Thursday, with more than 852 Thursday flights preemptively canceled in Atlanta and more than 1,000 in Charlotte. That represented nearly a third of the entire day's schedule at Atlanta and about 70% of Charlotte's, according to FlightAware.
That would make Thursday the most brutal day for air travel in a week that's seen more than 10,000 canceled flights since Monday.
With so many affected passengers, it could take until next week before airlines are able to clear the backlog of fliers knocked off schedule by this round of disruptions.
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