More Than 3,000 Flights Canceled on Christmas Morning – CNET [CNET]
These figures are well above last year’s, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics: In December 2021, roughly 420 flights a day were canceled on average and only about 3,800 delayed.
Thanks in large part to Winter Storm Elliott, Southwest Airlines ranked the worst of US-based airlines for on-time departures on Sunday morning, with 471 cancellations (about 12% of its entire schedule) and 1,112 delays (30%).
According to the travel industry blog View from the Wing, Southwest has been suffering from a shortage of pilots and ramp agents. Its customer service phone line has been so besieged it reportedly stopped taking calls. On Saturday, the airline issued a “state of operational emergency” at its hub, Denver International Airport, where nearly half (46%) of all flights were delayed.
“With more than half of the airports where we operate in the continental U.S. under duress from the storm, Southwest is uniquely affected, given our size and structure,” Southwest said in an advisory.
Delta came in a close second for the most missed flights on Christmas morning, with 445 cancellations and 231 delays.
“The decision to cancel flights is never one Delta takes lightly, especially during the holiday travel season,” the airline said in a statement on its website. “But the safety of our customers and our people is paramount. We strive to cancel flights well in advance of scheduled departure to allow our customers to adjust their plans before going to the airport.”
United, the next closest carrier, only registered 145 cancellations and 312 delays.
Thanks to frigid temperatures and the threat of black ice, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta’s US hub, had the most disruptions of any airport anywhere on Earth on Sunday — 94 canceled and 109 delayed outgoing flights. Another 119 flights slated to arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson were nixed and 94 delayed.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency lasting through Monday “to mitigate potential consequences of this winter weather.”