Thousands Of Weekend Flights Canceled As Major Snow Storm Churns Across US

Thousands of flights have been canceled across the U.S. on Saturday due to staffing shortages and bad weather.

What Happened: Over 4,300 flights across the country were canceled and over 2,600 were delayed on the first day of 2022 according to data from FlightAware.com.

The site indicates that Delta Air Lines Inc DAL grounded 9% of its flights, while American Airlines Group Inc AAL and United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL each canceled 7% of their flights.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines Co LUV canceled 13% of it’s planned trips on Saturday, amounting to 473 flights, and also delayed another 513.

The Midwest region is experiencing the brunt of the cancelations, 56% of flights scheduled to leave from Chicago Midway and 45% from Chicago O’Hare were called off, according to FlightAware. There were also numerous cancelations and delays at airports in Denver, Kansas City and Detroit.

International Air Traffic Also Effected: Airlines have already cancelled 2,500 international flights that were set to depart and arrive in the U.S. on Sunday, FlightAware said.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a major weekend snow storm across large parts of the country, which is expected to impact travel, both on the road and in the air.

This today's weather-related cancelations come as the Associated Press reports that about 12,000 flights have been scrubbed since Christmas Eve due to a record number of COVID-19 infections being reported across the U.S.

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