New York
CNN
—
Airlines are still digging themselves out of a severe day of storms that hit the eastern half of the United States on Friday and saw every state under some type of weather alert.
As of early Saturday evening, more than 1,200 flights had been scheduled across the country 4,700 flights were cancelled, according to data from tracking website FlightAware. While this is a significant improvement over Friday's nearly 2,300 cancellations and 9,000 delays, airports across the Midwest and Northeast are still experiencing significant travel delays.
In Michigan, where more than 140,000 customers are currently without power, Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit has delayed 40% of its departing flights. Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York has canceled 60% of its flights. Airports in Chicago, Denver and Boston are also experiencing disruptions. Nearly 550 flights to and from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have been delayed. Denver International Airport, where temperatures dropped to zero on Saturday evening, recorded the second highest number of cancellations.
These travel delays exacerbate an already difficult week for airlines and their passengers. Last week, more than 200 United and Alaska Airlines flights were canceled each day due to the federally mandated grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the order after a piece of fuselage blew up an Alaska Airlines plane carrying 177 people on January 5. The accident left a large hole in the side of the plane and the headrests were torn from the seats while the plane was flying at 16,000 feet. Shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.
United and Alaska Airlines, the two largest U.S. airlines flying the Max 9 planes, are among the airlines that have canceled the most flights, according to FlightAware. United topped the list on Saturday with nearly 250 flights cancelled, roughly 10% of its fleet. Alaska Airlines saw the fourth highest number of cancellations, with nearly 120 flights cancelled.
The two airlines said last week that they had canceled all flights on their Max 9 planes until mid-January.
