Lingering flight delays remain in the wake of blizzard

Hundreds of flights were still cancelled, with LaGuardia accounting for more than 700 cancellations yesterday.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) is reporting that some of their airline flights resumed late Sunday and the airlines will continue to resume routine operations today. Flights remained delayed or canceled in the aftermath of a massive weekend blizzard that slammed into the eastern USA.

Even as the airlines resumed operations, the remnants of the storm posed problems.

Delta said its teams began working before daybreak at both airports to de-ice aircraft and ground equipment and clear snow from ramp and terminal areas.

Early Sunday afternoon, a company spokesman said it planned to resume flights Monday at the three New York-area airports, as well as the three serving Washington, D.C. American said operations had resumed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a limit number of flights in and out of Philadelphia would resume Sunday afternoon.

The Port Authority of NY and New Jersey says more than half of flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport have been cancelled, as have about 85 percent of flights at LaGuardia Airport.

In Washington D.C., Washington Dulles International listed 127 cancellations and 3 delays, making it the third-worst affected airport in the nation. Reagan National had 124 cancellations.

John Escobar, 27, finished a three-month work contract surgical technician at New York Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital in Brooklyn on Friday and has been trying to get home to Fort Lauderdale ever since.

Around 1,000 flights were delayed Sunday, FlightAware said.

United Airlines, which is owned by United Continental Holdings Inc., suffered the brunt of cancellations for major airlines as it has key hubs at both Newark Liberty and Washington Dulles.

BWI officials say travelers should stay in close contact with their airlines for updated flight status information.

The blizzard was the second-biggest snowstorm in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) of snow in Central Park by midnight on Saturday, just shy of the record 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) set in 2006, the National Weather Service said.