Ice storm forces airlines to cancel hundreds of flights

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Northwest Airlines Corp. canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday at airports in Texas and Tennessee as an ice storm disrupted the busy holiday travel season.

American canceled 738 flights at Dallas, or about 60 percent of daily operations at its largest hub. Northwest Airlines said no more than half of its flights would operate at its Memphis hub, also because of ice. American said disruptions could continue today in Dallas.

No airlines reported delays since the holiday travel season began Friday until the ice storm, blamed for three highway deaths, began moving through Texas, Oklahoma and nearby states Tuesday. U.S. airlines will carry almost 26 million passengers between Dec. 22 and Jan. 4, said the Air Transport Association trade group.

"We are prepared to cover our runways with sand" if Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport is covered with rain and ice into the evening, spokesman Emilio Howell said. "If that was to happen, we are equipped to take as many inbound and outbound flights as the airlines are willing to operate."

Neither airline would immediately comment on any difficulty re-booking travelers in the year's busiest travel season. American said in a statement that the cancellations were meant to "minimize the possibility that passengers connecting at DFW might get stranded."

The Federal Aviation Administration reported weather-related delays of as long as two hours at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

At an Arkansas hotel near Little Rock National Airport -- closed since Monday -- Gary Blankenship of Memphis, Tenn., remained trapped with other stranded travelers and lamented his family's aborted trip to Amarillo, Texas. Little Rock had more than a half-inch of ice and Amarillo had 15 inches of snow.

"We've canceled our plans and as soon as the weather clears, we're heading back to Memphis," Blankenship said. "But I've got it better than some of these folks. At least I've got my family with me."

And most flights were canceled at Will Rogers World Airport at Oklahoma City.