Chicago: The United States grappled with major travel disruptions on Friday as a powerful winter storm in the Midwest resulted in the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights, while 5,846 others were delayed, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. The weather situation was also accompanied by the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft recently due to a mid-air blowout.
Data from the tracking site FlightAware shows that there have been 2,058 flight cancellations on Friday, the highest number since July 2023. This was the fourth worst day for flight cancellations in the last 12 months, as over 2,000 flights were cancelled in only three days last year, CNN reported.
Chicago’s two major airports are seeing the bulk of the cancellations, with nearly 40% of departing flights at O’Hare, and more than 60% of departing flights at Midway are cancelled, according to FlightAware. Nearly 40% of Milwaukee’s flights are also cancelled, while some cancellations were also seen in Denver.
Additionally, more than 200 United and Alaska Airlines flights have been cancelled each day this week due to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-mandated grounding, following the grounding of the Boeing 737 planes. US regulators grounded 171 MAX 9 planes after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated flight not long after taking off from Portland, Oregon last week, forcing pilots to scramble to land the plane safely.
United has scrapped 284 flights so far, with some cancellations extending to Saturday as it awaits regulatory nod to resume operating Boeing's 737 MAX 9 jets. The carrier said in a statement that it was operating some planned flights by switching to other aircraft types.
150 million Americans in peril
Most of the flight cancellations have been attributed to the storm as the Southwest, which does not fly the 737 Max 9, has also cancelled nearly 400 flights. The storm has also affected the electricity supply in the region. Power outages are climbing as the storm unleashes severe thunderstorms in the South, blizzard conditions in the Midwest and strong wind gusts for the more than 150 million Americans under wind alerts on Friday.
Nearly 250,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Great Lakes and South as of Friday morning. Most of the outages are in Illinois, where more than 97,000 are in the dark, and winds have gusted as high as 55 mph at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The strong winds greatly damaged an iconic state landmark dating back to the 19th century in Maine during the powerful storm sweeping across the eastern half of the United States. All but one wall of the 1897-built Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park bell house has been destroyed. However, the bell was not damaged as it moved at the end of August.
Bristol Parks and Recreation Department director Shelley Gallagher said that officials are concerned about the vulnerability of the structure to another powerful storm. The bell house was reportedly built to store a 1,000-pound bell that alerted sailors when fog set in and they couldn't see the lighthouse.
American airlines plagued with cancellations
Boeing's latest 737 MAX crisis deepened on Monday after United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on multiple grounded MAX 9 aircraft, raising new concerns among industry experts about how its best-selling jet family is manufactured. The FAA grounded more than 150 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after the blowout incident.
On Friday, United canceled 10 per cent of its operations and Alaska Airlines canceled 21 per cent, according to FlightAware data. Alaska confirmed that within 24 hours of the flight, it offered $1,500 cash and access to mental health resources for 177 passengers of Flight 1282.
United Airlines also announced on Friday that the airline extended its cancellation of Boeing 737 Max 9 flights through January 16. “By cancelling this far in advance, we’re trying to create more certainty for our customers and more flexibility for our frontline teams to do their work,” the airline said in a statement.
Alaska has also cancelled flights on 737-9 MAX aircraft through Saturday, January 13 – about 110-150 flights per day. Neither of the airlines have hinted on when the planes will resume flying. Alaska Airlines has also said it is working with Boeing to understand what happened on Flight 1282.
(with inputs from agencies)
