A severe winter storm has brought transportation across the US Northeast to a virtual standstill, triggering massive flight cancellations and delays that exceeded 8,000 incidents. The powerful blizzard dumped more than 30 inches (76.2 cm) of snow across multiple states, forcing road closures, school cancellations, and creating nightmarish conditions for travelers.
Major US carriers including United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines each cancelled approximately 20% of their scheduled flights on Monday. JetBlue Airways suffered particularly severe disruptions, cancelling about 80% of its operations due to its significant Northeast presence. The airline has preemptively cancelled 1,600 flights through Wednesday in anticipation of ongoing challenges.
While airlines expressed cautious optimism about resuming operations Tuesday, they warned that conditions remain difficult. According to analytics firm Cirium, cancellation rates are expected to drop from Monday’s 19% to approximately 7% on Tuesday, still significantly above the typical 1% cancellation rate for US domestic flights.
Southwest Airlines, which experienced fewer cancellations due to limited Northeast exposure, stated its plans to ‘ramp up operations tomorrow, if conditions permit us to safely do so.’ American Airlines reported successful resumption of operations at Washington Reagan National and Philadelphia airports, while Delta and American both anticipate restoring service at New York’s LaGuardia, JFK, and Boston airports by late Tuesday morning.
The transportation crisis extended beyond aviation, with US passenger railroad Amtrak cancelling dozens of trains between New York and Boston and on other Northeast routes. Several state governments issued orders prohibiting non-essential travel on roadways due to hazardous conditions and significant snowfall accumulation.