Airlines cancel over 1,300 U.S. flights as winter storm grips states (updated)
22/02/2023 18:08
(Adds statement from Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines,
updates flight cancellation numbers)
Feb 22 (Reuters) - Airlines canceled more than 1,300
flights in the United States on Wednesday as a strong winter
storm makes its way through the western and central states.
A total of 1,327 flights within, into and out of the United
States were canceled by 12:30 p.m. ET, according to
flight-tracking website FlightAware, which also showed 2,030
flights were delayed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a tweet on
Tuesday the severe weather could cause flight delays or
cancellations this week in Minnesota and other states in the
Great Lakes and southern plains.
Snow falling at a rate of two inches an hour and gusty winds
will make travel conditions treacherous and perhaps impossible
in parts of the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest, the
National Weather Service said in its forecast on Tuesday.
Regional carrier SkyWest Inc SKYW.O led the cancellations
with 312 flights, followed by low-cost carrier Southwest
Airlines Co's LUV.N 248 and Delta Air Lines' DAL.N 246
flight cancellations.
Southwest and Delta said they are monitoring the storm,
while SkyWest did not immediately respond to a request for a
comment.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Additional reporting
by Pratyush Thakur; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and
Shinjini Ganguli)
((Aishwarya.Nair@thomsonreuters.com; +91-9167838937 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aishwaryartrs
;))