Airlines scrap 3,800 U.S. flights as winter storm disrupts holiday travel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Airlines canceled more than 3,800 U.S. flights Thursday and Friday and U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak canceled some train service, disrupting holiday travel for thousands, as a powerful winter storm hit the United States.

The extreme weather coincided with the start of a holiday travel season that could be one of the busiest ever.

More than 2,180 U.S. flights had been canceled Thursday and another 1,600 flights for Friday were scrapped, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the winter storm was bringing blizzard conditions to the Midwest with major travel disruptions expected in Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

A passenger looks at a flight departure board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as a budding winter storm across the much of the country is likely to cause travel delays ahead of the Christmas holiday, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., December 20, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Delta Air Lines, which had cancelled 130 flights Thursday out of 4,400 and 84 on Friday per FlightAware, warned "additional cancelations will be necessary Friday as the storm continues to impact operations in Detroit and the Northeast."

So far, 24% of departing flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and 37% of flights at Chicago Midway were canceled Thursday, while 26% of departing Denver flights had been canceled.

Amtrak said it was cancelling several dozen scheduled train trips in the Midwest through Christmas because of weather conditions including trains in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and trains between New York and Chicago.

In the seven days ending Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 16.2 million passengers, slightly below the 16.5 million screened in the same period in 2019.

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Last year's holiday period was marred by an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff that forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights.

U.S. airlines, including Delta, United Airlines and American Airlines, said earlier this week they were waiving change fees and fare differences for passengers in a range of affected areas.

American Airlines said on Wednesday it was continuing to monitor the winter storm, which is expected to affect Midwest, Northeast and East Coast airports this week, and had canceled 130 flights as of 4 p.m. ET (1500 GMT).

Southwest Airlines had canceled 833 flights.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing Jonathan Oatis, Deepa Babington and Alistair Bell)