Airlines all over US have cancelled over 3,000 flights due to the storm disrupting the travel plans of thousands of tourists planning to travel during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Since Wednesday approximately 6,000 flights have been scrapped. Airports in New York, Detroit, Chicago, Portland and Seattle all faced high numbers of cancellations.
Experts said that apart from heavy storm, high winds and dangerously cold temperatures were likely to create more problems making it difficult to deice planes, keep runways clear, and creating hazards for employees who work outside at airports.
Alaska Air Group said forecasts of freezing rain in Portland and Seattle Thursday night into Friday could cause more problems. Freezing rain can slow operations significantly or bring them to a halt, as it takes longer to clear a plane of ice than snow, the carrier said.
Airlines began encouraging customers to book themselves onto earlier flights and made pre-emptive cancellations before the storm hit, in an effort to avoid stranding passengers and employees.
The arrival of storm at the peak of holiday season have created a dent in holiday plans of many tourists and families wanting to visit homes for the year-end break.