Airlines, airports regain footing after nor'easter

Airlines were resuming normal service by this afternoon at New York area airports, after canceling more than 2,000 flights in the region Wednesday and today because of a nor'easter storm that brought high winds and snow to a region still recovering from Superstorm Sandy a week earlier.

The cancellations across the Northeast included 649 today, after 1,612 on Wednesday, according to the flight-tracking company FlightAware.com. But airlines anticipate returning to normal service as the storm lumbers away.

"There appear to be near-normal operations at all the major airports this morning," says Daniel Baker of FlightAware.

The bulk of the cancellations both days were at Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, according to FlightAware. Those were the same airports that handle a significant portion of all U.S. flights, and which closed for several days after Sandy flooded coastal New Jersey and New York.

All three New York area airports were open today, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is urging passengers to check with airlines about specific flights. Boston's Logan airport also warned of flight cancellations and delays from the storm, and urged passengers to check with their airlines.

United Airlines, which has a hub at Newark and canceled about 500 flights during the two days, flew employee volunteers from across its company to New York to support coworkers and passengers, says spokesman Charles Hobart.

"We resumed operations at New York airports earlier today and
plan to operate a normal schedule this afternoon," he says.

American and American Eagle airlines canceled 395 flights Wednesday and today, with flights suspended in Philadelphia and the New York area on Wednesday, according to spokeswoman Andrea Huguely.

But the airline was fully operational at Boston this morning, and resumed normal operations at all airports by noon today, Huguely says.

Philadelphia's airport operations are normal today after 150 cancellations Wednesday, according to airport spokeswoman Vicki Lupica. She says the airport was "fortunate the snow portion of the storm did not affect us."

The nor'easter called Athena brought 12 inches of snow to parts of Connecticut and New Jersey, with nearly 5 inches falling in New York's Central Park. Wind gusted as high as 54 mph.

Sandy caused airlines to ground more than 20,000 flights during a six-day period that began Oct. 27.

As with Sandy, most big airlines are again waiving re-booking fees for customers booked into cities likely to be affected by the storm. Generally, the weather waivers allow customers to make one change to their itinerary — with restrictions — with no fee.

Contributing: The Associated Press