NJ, PA Airports See Flight Cancellations: Winter Snowstorm Predicted

Whether the weather comes or not, it’s already hit East Coast commuters hard.

As New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents hunker down for a “potentially paralyzing” winter storm this weekend, airports are already reporting flight cancellations for Friday and Saturday, when the worst of the weather is expected to arrive.

• See related article: N.J. Storm Update: ‘Potentially Paralyzing’ Event Expected

On Friday, the Port Authority of NY/NJ issued multiple alerts, warning commuters to check their flight status before flying in or out of Newark, JFK or LaGuardia airports.

United Airlines announced on Thursday that it will not operate any United Express flights at Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday, but plans to operate a “limited number” of mainline United flights.

United added that a waiver will remain place for changes, and that operations are expected to resume on Sunday “based on airport conditions.”

According to the Port Authority, other airlines were also waiving change fees due to the anticipated storm.

On Friday, the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center recommended that commuters departing from Newark to San Francisco International Airport take particular notice of their flight status, with delays averaging three hours and 18 minutes.

According to the Port Authority’s online flight status tracker, as of Friday morning, several carriers had cancelled flights from Newark to San Francisco for Saturday, including United Airlines, Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines.

See the Port Authority’s updated Newark Airport flight status list here.

PHILADELPHIA AIRPORT

All flights at Philadelphia Airport were canceled for Saturday ahead of the looming blizzard, and a state-of-emergency was declared in Pennsylvania.

• See related article: N.J. Storm Update: Blizzard Threat Upgraded, More Details Released
• See related article: Blizzard Threat Imminent, PHL Cancels All Saturday Flights

CANCELLED FLIGHTS NATIONWIDE

Nationally, airlines have cancelled more than 3,000 flights, USA TODAY reported.

• See related article: East Coast Blizzard Causing Travel Nightmares in Detroit

American Airlines said its entire flight schedule would be suspended at Philadelphia, Washington National, Baltimore/Washington and Washington Dulles on Saturday.

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