Flight cancellations continue at CLT, but most airlines could resume full operations

While the Carolinas slowly sunk Sunday under snow and ice, Charlotte Douglas International Airport was a sea of red — red as in hundreds of canceled flights stretching into Monday.

The airline hub, one of the busiest in the country, was also the hardest hit by a powerful winter storm that swept across the South starting before dawn.

On Sunday, 1,223 flights, including more than 560 by American Airlines, were canceled leaving only a handful still on the board, some with delays, according to the tracking site, FlightAware.com. American operates 90% of flights out of CLT airport.

At least 419 flights scheduled for Monday — including nearly 150 for American — have been canceled.

Travelers should check with their airline about their flight status. Weather conditions in other parts of the country could affect flights on Monday.

Most airlines plan to resume full operations by Monday afternoon, the airport said.

Airport staff spent Sunday night clearing the airfield, airport roadways, overpasses and parking lots, the airport said. CLT’s three parallel runways are open.

The airline travel problems posed by the storm were widespread.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the main hub for Delta Air Lines, canceled more than 300 flights, The Associated Press reported.

While snow and other frozen precipitation fell across the Carolinas and the South, Charlotte was in the cross hairs Sunday for the worst of the icing. A dangerous .35 of an inch had been expected to accumulate, but a trace of ice fell, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Krentz.

As of 4 p.m., 2.1 inches of snow and sleet had been recorded at the airport, the NWS said.

Temperatures were expected to remain around freezing before dropping into the low 20s overnight, prolonging the icing well past Monday morning.

News editor Rogelio Aranda contributed.

This story was originally published January 16, 2022 at 10:48 AM.

Michael Gordon

The Charlotte Observer

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Michael Gordon has been the Observer’s legal affairs writer since 2013. He has been an editor and reporter at the paper since 1992, occasionally writing about schools, religion, politics and sports. He spent two summers as “Bikin Mike,” filing stories as he pedaled across the Carolinas.