Airlines have canceled more than 3,300 flights because of an early-spring nor’easter that’s threatening to dump more than a foot of snow on the New York City area.
Two-thirds of the scheduled Wednesday departures from Newark Liberty International Airport, or 433 flights, were called off, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. More than 380 flights departures were canceled from LaGuardia. A similar number of flights into those airports were also canceled.
Other affected airports include Philadelphia, all New York City-area airports, those in the Washington, D.C. area and in Boston.
Carriers including American, Delta, United and JetBlue said travelers scheduled to fly on Tuesday or Wednesday from a dozen airports along the East Coast can change travel dates to as late as March 25 without paying a date-change fee. If travelers can only change their tickets beyond that date, they may have to pay a difference in fare.
Airplanes can generally fly in snow without a problem, but some flights can be called off in an effort to avoid accidents if visibility is low, winds are high, or if runway conditions are unsafe. Airlines also cancel flights ahead of time to avoid stranding crews and passengers, which can lead to a cascade of delays later on.
American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, said it canceled a fifth of its 6,320 flights scheduled for Wednesday.
“Since airlines likely based their proactive cancellations for today on the results from the past three weeks, it is possible that we won’t see a sharp rise in further cancellations” from the current number, said FlightAware in a note.
More than 10,000 flights were canceled this March because of back-to-back nor’easters, making this month the worst March for cancellations in at least five years, FlightAware said.
