More than 1,200 Flights Canceled at Charlotte Airport as Storm Dumps Ice, Snow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While the Carolinas slowly sunk Sunday under snow and ice, Charlotte Douglas International Airport was a sea of red — red as in hundreds of canceled flights stretching into Monday.

The airline hub, one of the busiest in the country, was also the hardest hit by a powerful winter storm that swept across the South starting before dawn.

As of 5:30 p.m., more than at least 1,200 flights had been canceled leaving only a handful still on the board, some with delays, according to the tracking site, FlightAware.com. American Airlines operates 90% of flights out of CLT airport.

At least 280 flights scheduled for Monday — including more then 120 for American — have been canceled. Travelers should check with their airline about their flight status.

Plowing of the runways and taxiways continues at CLT, the airport said. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, one of the airports three parallel runways was open.

The airline travel problems posed by the storm were widespread and growing.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the main hub for Delta Air Lines, canceled more than 300 flights, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, possible ground stops already extended as far north as Washington, D.C., the Federal Aviation Administration said in its air traffic control plan for Sunday.

While snow and other frozen precipitation fell across the Carolinas and the South, Charlotte was in the cross hairs Sunday for the worst of the icing. A dangerous .35 of an inch had been expected to accumulate, but a trace of ice fell, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Krentz.

As of 4 p.m., 2.1 inches of snow and sleet had been recorded at the airport, the NWS said.

Temperatures were expected to remain around freezing before dropping into the low 20s overnight, prolonging the icing well past Monday morning.

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(Charlotte Observer news editor Rogelio Aranda contributed to this report.)

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