Seventy-five thousand. That’s the minimum number of airline flights that have been canceled around the nation since Dec. 1, a record-breaking figure that reflects the miserable winter weather that’s dotted much of the U.S. map.
Roughly 14,000 flights were shut down just this week, The Associated Press reported. To put into perspective: That’s about 5.5 percent of the 1.35 million scheduled flights for those few days, AP said.
The 75,000 cancellation figure is the highest recorded in decades — since the 1987-1988 winter, when the federal Department of Transportation first tracked data on halted flights, AP reported.
Thursday was particularly rough for air travelers. An estimated 70 percent of flights were halted in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, AP reported.
“This year is off to a brutal start for airlines and travelers,” said Daniel Baker, the CEO of the flight tracking site FlightAware, in AP. “Not only is each storm causing tens of thousands of cancellations, but there’s been a lot of them.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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