Air travelers experience pandemic-like flight cancellations. And it's not over yet.

By Claudia Assis

More than 20,000 flights have been cancelled over the weekend due to the winter storm, including more than 11,000 flights on Sunday

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport has been among the air-travel hubs most affected by this weekend's winter storm.

Airlines have canceled more than 20,000 flights through Monday due to a winter storm that walloped two-thirds of the U.S. over the weekend - with flights into and out of Dallas and Atlanta among the most affected so far.

The widespread air-travel disruptions come amid heavy snow and frigid temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as icy conditions and gusty winds across the southern Great Plains and Southeast, the National Weather Service said.

More than 1,200 flights on Friday, about 4,600 flights on Saturday, over 11,400 flights on Sunday, as of Sunday evening, according to FlightAware. As of early Monday, there were 4,420 flight cancellations on Monday, while another 10,061 flights were delayed.

Sunday's cancellations most significantly affected flights in and out of Dallas, Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; and the New York City area.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said Sunday's cancellations were the highest since the pandemic's early shutdown days. There were 22,751 flights scheduled March 30, 2020, with 12,143 cancellations, Cirium said.

On July 19, 2024, there were 3,600 cancellations connected to a faulty software update involving cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD), which rattled computers running Microsoft Windows (MSFT) and the global information-technology system with the "blue screen of death" and affecting airlines, airport operations and other businesses.

Dallas Forth Worth and Charlotte Douglas are the two largest hubs for Fort Worth-based American Airlines (AAL), while Hartsfield-Jackson is Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines' (DAL) top hub. Cancellations also hit Dallas Love Field, home to Southwest Airlines' (LUV) corporate headquarters.

Sunday's cancellations most heavily hit American (over 1,800 flights), Delta (nearly 1,500 flights) and Southwest (over 1,300 flights), at last check.

Airline stocks were trending lower early Monday, with the U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS down 0.6% in premarket trading. Among the ETF's components, American shares shed 1.2%, Delta's stock fell 1.1% and United shares gave up 1.2%, while Southwest's stock eased 0.2%.

On an average day, about 1% of roughly 50,000 daily U.S. flights, are canceled and some 20% are delayed. On Jan. 22, 2025, at the peak of a historic snowstorm that blanketed the Southeast, some 1,700 flights were canceled.

For the current storm, U.S. airlines have issued waivers to ticket holders, with the details of what is covered varying from airline to airline.

Once a flight is canceled, there's very little slack in the system for rebookings, as airlines work to fly planes as close to capacity as possible. That makes for slow rebooking and recovery from any flight cancellations.

The storm brought heavy snow, ice and bitter cold to large swaths of the country. It was particularly treacherous, as it hit areas not used to severe winter weather.

-Claudia Assis

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01-26-26 0845ET