Storm Caused 6,600 Flight Cancellations
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut by Friday each declared a state of emergency due to the winter storm “Nemo” that reportedly led to the cancelation of more than 4,000 flights in the Northeast by afternoon Friday. New rules that punish airlines with fines for leaving passengers waiting too long in closed aircraft mean that many airlines now act preemptively. United Airlines canceled at least 900 flights ahead of the storm. Delta cancelled at least 740flights and JetBlue, which operates mainly out of JFK and Boston’s Logan Airport, canceled nearly 650 flights, even while New York’s airports remained open Friday.
Airports throughout the Northeast were back in operation Sunday and normal schedules were expected at most by Monday in the wake of a big snowstorm that crippled the area over the weekend. In all, more than 6,600 flights were cancelled. New rules that punish airlines with fines for leaving passengers waiting too long in closed aircraft mean that many airlines now act preemptively. United Airlines canceled at least 900 flights ahead of the storm. Delta cancelled at least 740flights and JetBlue, which operates mainly out of JFK and Boston's Logan Airport, canceled nearly 650 flights, even while New York's airports remained open Friday.
In total at least 3,000 flights scheduled for Friday were canceled, according to multiple sources. Airlines Friday were also canceling flights for Saturday, adding another 1100 cancelations to the total before Saturday even began. By late Friday, airports in New York were still open, but virtually no flights were flying in or out of the area. The cancelations in many cases rippled through airline fleets, causing more delays and cancelations in areas across the country otherwise unaffected by the Northeast's weather event.