New York, December 28: More than 1,500 flights were cancelled across the United States on Friday as winter storm Devin swept across large parts of the country, disrupting air travel during the busy holiday period and placing tens of millions of Americans under weather warnings.
Airline tracking website FlightAware said 1,581 flights within, into or out of the United States were cancelled and 6,883 were delayed as of 4 p.m. Eastern Time. The U.S. National Weather Service warned that the storm would create hazardous travel conditions, with heavy snow expected across parts of the Midwest and the Northeast.
More than 40 million Americans were under winter storm warnings or weather advisories, while another 30 million people in California were affected by flood or storm advisories as a powerful atmospheric river brought heavy rain to the West Coast.
New York City was bracing for up to 10 inches (250 mm) of snow overnight, which would be its heaviest snowfall in four years. Temperatures were forecast to drop sharply into the weekend as an Arctic blast moves south from Canada.
Airports in the New York metropolitan area, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, warned travellers of possible delays and cancellations. More than half of all disrupted flights were recorded at those three airports, FlightAware data showed.
JetBlue Airways cancelled 225 flights on Friday, the most among U.S. carriers, followed by Delta Air Lines with 212 cancellations. Republic Airways cancelled 157 flights, while American Airlines and United Airlines cancelled 146 and 97 flights, respectively.
“Due to winter storm Devin, JetBlue has cancelled approximately 350 flights today and tomorrow, primarily in the Northeast where JetBlue has a large operation,” a JetBlue spokesperson told Reuters.
On the U.S. West Coast, a series of winter storms brought Southern California its wettest Christmas season in 54 years. Although rainfall eased around Los Angeles, the National Weather Service warned that the risk of flash flooding and mudslides remained. Firefighters in Los Angeles County rescued more than 100 people on Thursday, officials said, including 21 people who were airlifted by helicopter from vehicles stranded by floodwaters.
