It’s a not to happy holidays for travelers in the northeast. Severe weather has caused hundreds of flights cancellations and more are expected. Delta and JetBlue, which both operate major hubs in the region, have been hit the hardest.
Winter Storms Force Cancellations in the Northeast
Many travelers are returning home this weekend after visiting family and friends for Christmas. For those traveling through the northeast, especially on Delta and JetBlue, expect plenty of delays and cancellations.
According to FlightAware, Delta has cancelled 208 flights as of noon today with a further 388 delays reported. This represents roughly 18% of the airline’s operations. Endeavor Air, a wholly owned regional subsidiary of Delta, is also reporting significant disruptions with 78 cancellations and 103 delays (42 percent of flights).
While JetBlue is reporting similar numbers, 225 cancelations and 204 delays, this represents a much larger percentage of the carrier’s overall operations (42% in total). This doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering JetBlue’s major operations at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS).
By comparison, American Airlines and United Airlines have each cancelled roughly 2% of their total flights. For real time statistics, click here.
All Eyes Are On Delta
While weather related cancellations are never fun, many will be watching Delta closely to see how it responds to the disruption. Last year, after the carrier was affected by the Crowdstrike outage, it took over a week to get flights and crews back into position, leading to a catastrophic meltdown.
As someone who is flying Delta in less than a week, I’m certainly hoping that we see the airline get out ahead of this disruption and do what is necessary to preserve the schedule in the days after the weather clears.
With this coming weekend being one of the busiest travel periods of the year, airplanes and airports will be bursting at the seams, leaving very little room for error if Delta, and others, want to keep things on track.
Summary
Winter weather is disrupting travel in the northeast causing delays and cancellations. Delta and JetBlue, which both operate hubs in New York and Boston, are currently the hardest hit. We’ll all be watching closely to see how airlines manage the disruption, especially Delta.