US Airlines Cut Flights Again as Another Winter Storm Looms

U.S. airlines are still paring back flights as a deep freeze hampers the restart of operations at some major hubs, with the industry bracing for further disruptions as another arctic blast looms later this week.

Delta Air Lines Inc. said unfavorable weather conditions in the Northeast will affect services at its hubs in Boston and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. American Airlines Group Inc. has already axed about 500 mainline and regional services on Tuesday, according to FlightAware, after scrapping more than half of its scheduled flights on Monday.

So far, airlines had canceled more than 1,500 flights on Tuesday as of 9:15 a.m. New York time, according to FlightAware. While that’s down from the more than 6,100 cancellations Monday and Sunday’s 11,600 — the most since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic — it underscores the persistent challenges airlines are facing in getting things back on track.

Frigid temperatures continue to affect large parts of the eastern US and the National Weather Service has warned of another potential significant winter storm later this week. That system could keep parts of the U.S. in a deep freeze as it spreads to the East, Southeast and stretches into Florida.

“Wind is the nemesis of safe aviation. We will also have the issue of aircrafts sliding on the runway because of recently fallen snow or ice,” said Vikrant Vaze, executive director of the master of engineering management program at Dartmouth College.

“This is one of those cases where it’s going to take a while to get back to normal,” he said.

Some of the cities hit by the recent storm don’t have infrastructure to manage the severe conditions, leading to staffing issues as workers struggled to navigate roads, American said in a statement.

The airline, among the worst hit by the storm, reported its quarterly results on Tuesday and said the storm will hit revenue in the range of $150 million to $200 million.

Top photo: A traveler looks at a flight information board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Jan. 26. Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg.