Las Vegas, US flight troubles ease a bit
As an unprecedented “bomb cyclone” intensified Friday and moved eastward across the country, Friday proved to be the worst day for air travel in Las Vegas as well as nationwide.
Cancellations and delays decreased Saturday, but were still heavy with 5,203 canceled flights nationwide and 16,237 flights delayed.
Airlines at the Las Vegas airport canceled 145 Saturday flights as of 3 p.m. and delayed another 327. Another 36 flights planned for Sunday have been called off.
The widespread storm was affecting about 35 states and more than 200 million people. At least 18 deaths were related to the storm as of Saturday evening, officials said.
On Friday, Harry Reid International Airport had 226 flights called off and 523 delayed.
On Thursday, the Las Vegas airport showed 98 canceled flights and 537 delayed, according to FlightAware.com.
Cancellations nationwide came to 6,049 flights on Thursday and 8,768 on Friday.
An estimated 7.2 million people were expected to travel by air during the 11-day period between Friday and Jan. 2, according to AAA data. Around 102 million people will travel by car. Many may likely face treacherous travel and delays.
Bad weather creating blizzard-like conditions through a widespread area affects nearly all parts of the nation’s airport system. A trickle-down effect occurs when any area of the country is impacted by severe weather.
This year’s holiday travel season is expected to be the busiest since pre-pandemic 2019.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. Review-Journal transportation reporter Mick Akers contributed to this story.