WASHINGTON: US airlines are set to add flights on Tuesday, even as they wrestle with thousands of scrubbed flights the day after a powerful Northeast winter storm forced more than 8,000 cancellations and delays.The storm blanketed parts of the US Northeast, closing roads and cancelling schools.
With cancellations frustrating travelers on Monday evening, US carriers including United Airlines UAL.Osaid they had early plans to ramp up operations on Tuesday, but cautioned that conditions remain challenging.
On Tuesday, 7 per cent of US flights are expected to be cancelled, down from just over 19 per cent on Monday, according to data from analytics firm Cirium as of late afternoon. A typical day in the US domestic market has 1 per cent cancellations.
Southwest Airlines LUV.Nsaid its plan “is on track to start ramping up operations tomorrow, if conditions permit us to safely do so.”
The Dallas-based low-cost carrier canceled about 7 per cent of flights on Monday. That was less than its rivals due to the carrier’s limited Northeast exposure.
American Airlines AAL.O said it had been able to resume operations at Washington Reagan National and Philadelphia.
Delta DAL.N and American both said they expect to resume operations at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports and Boston late on Tuesday morning. Delta also expects to resume Newark flights on Tuesday.
JetBlue JBLU.O was especially hard hit, canceling about 80 per cent of flights due to the storm on Monday, according to data from FlightAware. The airline said in total it has cancelled 1,600 flights through on Wednesday.
