A powerful winter storm sweeping across the north-eastern United States has upended one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, forcing airlines to cancel more than 1,500 flights and delay thousands more as heavy snow and hazardous conditions spread across major transport hubs.
According to flight‑tracking service FlightAware, 1,581 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were cancelled by Friday afternoon, with nearly 7,000 delays reported as Winter Storm Devin intensified. Some estimates climbed even higher as the evening progressed, with disruptions surpassing 1,800 cancellations and more than 22,000 delays nationwide.
New York’s three major airports—JFK, LaGuardia and Newark—absorbed the worst of the chaos, accounting for more than half of all cancellations as snow blanketed the region and visibility dropped sharply. The National Weather Service placed more than 40 million Americans under winter storm warnings or advisories, cautioning that travel would remain treacherous through Saturday.
Snowfall totals reached around 4 inches (10 cm) in parts of New York City, with forecasters noting that conditions began easing by early Saturday even as airlines worked to reset schedules and clear backlogs.
The storm’s timing—landing squarely between Christmas and New Year—has magnified its impact, stranding passengers, clogging airport terminals and complicating holiday plans across the country.
