Many air travelers will encounter flight delays and cancellations Wednesday as a blizzard is forecast to bring snow, high winds and white-out conditions to the Midwest and Great Lakes regions.
Travelers may encounter flight delays and cancellations Wednesday due to a blizzard sweeping through ... [+]
As of 9:40 a.m. EST Wednesday, there were 565 flight cancellations and 963 delays in and out of U.S. airports, according to FlightAware.
Airports reporting double-digit flight cancellations include major hubs such as Charlotte/Douglas in N.C., Reagan National in Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Dallas and Philadelphia.
Thousands more flights will likely be disrupted as the day progresses.Major U.S. airlines are issuing travel waivers allowing passengers flying in or out of impacted airports to rebook without paying the fare difference.
A major winter storm will bring blizzard conditions to much of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions Wednesday, with several inches of snowfall, winds gusts of up to 60 m.p.h. and white-out conditions at times, according to the National Weather Service.
69%. That’s the percentage of flight delays caused by weather in the U.S.
Flight disruptions tend to climb as the day moves on because of the way airlines reuse planes for multiple flights each day. A delayed flight in the morning will cause that plane to run late for all its other scheduled departures into late afternoon and evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airlines rely on weather forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to route aircraft and manage operations in hazardous conditions. As many as 1,300 employees were fired from NOAA last week, amounting to roughly 10% of the agency, according to the Associated Press, leading to concerns of whether the agency’s ability to forecast and warn of storms would be hurt by the reductions.
Major Storm Sweeping Across U.S. Marks First Test For Weakened NOAA–Here’s What To Know (Forbes)