INDIANAPOLIS — Wintry weather and the pandemic are to blame for thousands of flights being canceled or delayed in the first days of the new year. On the East Coast, more than 2,500 U.S. flights and more than 4,200 worldwide had been canceled by Sunday afternoon, according to tracking service FlightAware.
In Indianapolis, 29 flights were canceled as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday and another 76 had been delayed.
But Chicago was by far hit the hardest with cancellations and delays. A winter storm that hit the Midwest on Saturday made Chicago the worst place in the country for travelers throughout the weekend as the region’s airports continued to recover Sunday morning. About a quarter of all flights at O’Hare Airport were canceled Sunday.
According to FlightAware, 287 flights were canceled and 214 delayed at Chicago O’Hare on Sunday. Denver International Airport had the second most cancelations on Sunday with 144, followed by Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta with 84.
This follows Saturday’s mass cancelations of more than 2,700 U.S. flights, and more than 4,700 worldwide. Saturday’s single-day U.S. toll was the highest since just before Christmas, when airlines began blaming staffing shortages on increasing COVID-19 infections among crews.
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American Airlines said most of Sunday’s canceled flights had been canceled ahead of time to avoid last-minute disruptions at the airport.
The U.S. airlines with the most cancellations as of 6:00 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware:
- SkyWest – 533
- Southwest – 423
- Delta – 175
- JetBlue – 171
- American – 158
- Mesa – 120
- United – 109
Southwest had the most delays with 1,520, followed by United with 625 and Delta with 574.
