Airlines cancel thousands of flights as big storm advances
NEW YORK - Airlines canceled around 7,600 flights to, from or within the US for Friday and Saturday, as a blizzard began covering much of the Eastern US.
The bulk of Friday's 3,500 cancelations are in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Another 4,100 flights were canceled for Saturday. Those cancelations center on Philadelphia, Washington, and New York, with airlines essentially shutting down all flights into those cities.
By Sunday afternoon, however, the airlines hope to be back to a full schedule to handle the typical influx of business travelers heading out to start a week on the road.
Overall, the airlines have canceled about 15 percent of their scheduled flights in the US for Friday and Saturday.
