Flight schedules at New York City airports began to recover on Sunday evening after the worst snowstorm to hit the US East Coast in decades resulted in hundreds of cancellations and delays.
Arrivals and departures at LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark were observed on Sunday, although Washington airports were idle except for a dozen flights that were en route, according to web tracker FlightAware.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel – we are now seeing both arrivals and departures at the New York City area airports,” said Daniel Baker, chief executive of the aviation website.
Airlines had cancelled over 3,500 flights on Sunday, with New York’s LaGuardia topping the list of total cancellations with 348, or 76 percent of its planned total, according to FlightAware.
Kennedy airport had the second highest number of cancellations with 326 and Newark Liberty third with 309. Over 1,100 flights for Monday were cancelled, with Newark most impacted at over 220 cancelled flights, over 40 percent of its planned total.
Overall, airlines have cancelled over 12,000 flights across the five-day period of Friday-Tuesday,
The blizzard was the second-biggest snowstorm in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) of snow in Central Park by midnight on Saturday, just short of the record 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) set in 2006, the National Weather Service said.
