More than 1,000 US flights canceled as winter weather hinders travel

By Marnie Hunter and Gregory Wallace, CNN

More than 1,000 Monday flights have been canceled in the United States as winter weather deepens in the center of the country.

Most of the cancellations so far affect the Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International airports in Texas.

As of about 5:30 p.m. ET, just over 1,000 flights within, to or from the US had been canceled Monday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware, with more than 4,100 delays.

About half of those cancellations are Southwest Airlines flights. The Dallas-based airline, which had an operational collapse over the holidays, canceled about 12% of its schedule on Monday, some 480 flights, according to FlightAware.

Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As recently as Monday morning, CEO Bob Jordan was outlining solutions to prevent a repeat of the airline’s holiday travel crash.

By contrast, Texas-based American Airlines canceled 6% of its schedule on Monday. American had canceled about 200 US flights as of 5:30 p.m. ET Monday.

The regional airline SkyWest had canceled more than 140 flights.

Cancellations were already piling up for Tuesday flights, with around 800 canceled system-wide on Monday night. Southwest and American had already canceled 8% to 10% of their Tuesday hours.

In addition to the widespread cancellations in Dallas on Monday and Tuesday, about 200 Monday flights to and from Denver International Airport in Colorado were also cancelled. By Tuesday, more than 100 flights to and from Austin, Texas, had already been canceled Monday night.

A winter storm warning is in effect for much of Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, until 6 a.m. Central Time Wednesday.

Southwest Airlines issued a winter weather waiver Sunday and extended the waivers by noon Monday to a dozen airports in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky. The latest exemptions apply for travel from January 30 to February 1.

American Airlines issued a waiver Sunday for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) that applies to travel from January 29 to February 2.

Delta and United have also issued weather waivers. Its Monday operations were not significantly affected by the cancellations.

Dallas Love Field tweeted Monday that its team “stands ready to treat and clean surfaces to allow for safe operations.” DFW was also preparing for bad weather.

Both airports urged travelers to check with their airlines for flight status before going to the airport.

“If you must travel, slow down and use extreme caution, especially when approaching bridges and overpasses,” the Texas warning reads.

Top Image: Motorists in Dallas deal with wintry conditions. Credit: KTVT

The CNN Wire
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