Blizzards, snow and ice disrupt thousands of US flights

Barry Neild, CNN

Another day of harsh winter weather brought continued air travel misery across the United States on Thursday with more than 1,100 flights canceled and thousands more delayed by snow storms and plunging temperatures.

As of 6 p.m. ET, 1,110 airplane departures had been scrapped and more than 5,000 delayed within the US, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. The schedule disruptions come a day after more than 1,700 flights were dropped and more than 7,000 delayed.

Blizzards, snow dumps and ice have hit a huge swath of the western and northern US stretching from California to New York and New England, with much of the upper Midwest experiencing particularly heavy snowfalls. More than 60 million people were under winter weather alerts early Thursday.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport was the worst affected with more than 130 departures and about 100 arrivals struck off. Delta was the worst affected carrier, accounting for more than 200 of the overall cancellations and more than 550 delays.

Boston Logan International, Portland International and Toronto Pearson International were also showing significant impact.

Southwest Airlines has issued winter weather waivers for about a dozen airports. Delta Air Lines has issued waivers for Upper Midwest winter weather and Rockies and Mountain regions winter weather. American Airlines and United have also issued winter weather waivers for travel this week.

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CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this article.