Airlines canceled greater than 2,000 flights on Friday as an enormous winter storm complicated travel within the southern United States, while greater than 2,000 other flights were delayed.
Operations were further disrupted after a Delta Air Lines Boeing The 757-300 stopped taking off at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest and Delta's fundamental hub, and 201 passengers and 7 crew were evacuated on emergency slides because of an engine problem.
“The Delta flight crew followed established procedures to complete the takeoff of Flight 2668 from Atlanta (ATL) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) following an indication of an engine problem,” Delta said. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and customers and we apologize to our customers for their experience. We are working to support our customers and get them to their destination as safely and quickly as possible.”
Nearly 900 flights to and from Atlanta, about 40% of the day's schedule, were canceled, while greater than 400 others were delayed, in line with flight tracker FlightAware. The airport has a ground stop that stops flights to this airport at their departure point in order that the power shouldn’t be overloaded with aircraft.
Two of them American AirlinesThe hubs of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport were also heavily impacted by the storm, with greater than 1,000 flights to and from those two airports canceled. Most DFW flights were canceled Thursday because the storm dumped snow in the world.
Delta, southwest, American and other airlines waived change fees and fare differences due to the storm.
image credit : www.cnbc.com