Hundreds more flights canceled in winter storm's wake

KEY POINTS

• Airlines have canceled more than 1,000 Friday flights because of the storm.
• Resumption of regular schedules hampered by bottlenecks and ice.
• Some flights are delayed as airlines race to de-ice planes as bone-chilling temperatures followed storm.

JetBlue airplanes wait at the gates outside terminal five at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 4, 2018 in the Queens borough of New York City. A winter storm is traveling up the east coast of the United States dumping snow and creating blizzard like conditions in many areas.

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The "bomb cyclone" has departed the U.S. but air travel is still a mess.

Airlines canceled more than 1,100 flights scheduled for Friday due to the massive storm, according to FlightAware, a flight data site. New York airports ground to a halt in winter storm, which brought high winds and snow, snarling air travel from Maine to Florida.

More than 3,000 flights were grounded on Thursday because of the storm, stranding thousands of passengers, while low visibility and strong winds diverted dozens of other flights.

John F. Kennedy International Airport said it had resumed operations at 7 a.m. Friday, and New York's LaGuardia lifted a suspension on flights late Thursday.

But air travel is far from back to normal. Travelers booked on Friday should check airline websites and apps for updates on schedules. While several airlines are scrambling to get operations back to normal, a bone-chilling cold followed the storm, so airlines must ensure their planes are de-iced before flying, a process that can cause delays. Also, poor road conditions could make it difficult for flight crews to reach airports.

All major U.S. airlines, including United, American, Delta, JetBlue and Spirit, waived date-change fees for passengers booked Thursday and Friday and said they could re-book flights for as late as late as Jan. 12. Passengers won't have to pay a change fee if they travel later than that, but a difference in fare could apply.

American said it expected to have resumed operations at the three major New York City-area airports and in Boston by 10 a.m.

It was unclear how much the storm will cost airlines. Last year, a string of strong hurricanes that hit airlines' hubs cost those companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, but clearing runways from a snowstorm is a much faster process than recovering from the floods, power outages, structural damage to airports and other infrastructure damage that 2017's storms caused.