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Jan. 27--Philadelphia International Airport was getting back to normal Thursday, even though airlines canceled 337 flights, representing about 29 percent of the 1,200 daily departures and arrivals, said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica.
"It's way too early to know if we are going to have any stranded passengers," she said. About 1,500 were stranded overnight Wednesday, as 15 inches of snow blanketed the region.
US Airways, Philadelphia's largest carrier, canceled 570 flights across its network Thursday.
"Our operations in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia were impacted the greatest due to our large presence in those cities," said US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher. "Our goal is to minimize the impact on our customers and get them to where they need to go by the end of the day today."
US Airways added extra flights into Philadelphia on some routes, including Boston and Pittsburgh, Lehmacher said. "Many of our flights diverted to Pittsburgh Wednesday night, so we had to bring customers and planes to the hub in Philly today," he said.
Lupica said the airport's two primary runways were open. "We aren't having any difficulty with arriving or departing flights," she said. "It's the goal of the airlines to make sure that everybody gets where they need to be today, even if it's a little bit later."
Some arriving flights into Philadelphia were delayed an average of two hours Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration website.
What happens with flights Friday will depend on how airlines close out Thursday evening.
"If all flights planned to go out tonight do, then the airlines will run normal operations tomorrow," Lupica said. "Because the planes that are supposed to come in will have come in tonight, and they are here to go out in the morning."
Go to www.phl.org or call 1-800-745-4283 for the latest flight information.
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