US Airlines Issue Travel Waivers as Winter Storm Threatens Widespread Disruption

Описание: U.S. airlines have rolled out sweeping travel waivers as a powerful winter storm threatens to disrupt air travel across a wide swath of the country heading into the weekend, with forecasters warning of heavy snow, ice, and dangerously cold temperatures.

The National Weather Service said on Jan. 23 that a complex weather system would produce “heavy snow over the Central/Southern Plains and Middle/Lower Mississippi Valley” along with “catastrophic ice accumulation from the Southern Plains to the Southeast” and “bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills from the Southern Plains to the Northeast.”

The storm could be among the largest winter weather events in years due to its sheer geographic reach, according to AccuWeather, with heavy snow forecast from the eastern slopes of the Rockies to the Northeast corridor.

Major cities expected to be impacted include Denver, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Nashville, Indianapolis, Washington, New York City, and Boston.

AccuWeather warned that snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour in some locations could overwhelm road crews and airport operations, making deicing and runway clearing difficult or ineffective.

“It is rare that storms combine this much snow, ice and bitter cold over such a large area — a widespread travel-halting winter storm will stall daily life for days in large portions of the central and eastern U.S.,” AccuWeather Senior Vice President Evan Myers said in a Jan. 22 report.

The company said thousands of flights could be canceled nationwide as aircraft and crews are displaced, even at airports where skies remain clear. It warned that recovery could take several days because plunging temperatures may limit the effectiveness of ice-melting chemicals.

Several airlines have adjusted their flight schedules and issued or expanded waivers for customers.

Delta Air Lines said on Jan. 22 that it had started canceling flights in parts of the South and central United States as the storm moves east.
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