The relentless snow and ice storms this winter have led to the highest number of flight cancellations in more than 25 years, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
U.S. airlines have canceled more than 75,000 domestic flights since Dec. 1, including roughly 14,000 this week. That's 5.5 percent of the 1.35 million flights scheduled during that period, according to AP calculations based on information provided by flight tracking site FlightAware.
It's the highest total number and highest percent of cancellations since at least the winter of 1987-1988, when the Department of Transportation first started collecting cancellation data, the AP reported.
A mix of cost-cutting measures and new government regulations has made airlines more likely to cancel flights and leave fliers scrambling to get to their destination, according to the AP.
In May 2010, a new DOT rule took effect prohibiting airlines from keeping passengers on the tarmac for three hours or more causing airlines to cancel blocks of flights to avoid potential fines of up to $27,500 per passenger or $4.1 million for a typical plane holding 150 fliers, the AP reported.
Keeping planes at airports outside of the storm's path can protect equipment and thereby get flight schedules back to normal quickly after a storm passes and airports reopen, according to the AP.
The government also implemented a new rule at the start of January, increasing the amount of rest pilots need. That's made it harder to operate an irregular schedule, such as those seen after a storm, the AP reported.
"This is another behavior being forced upon them by government regulations," says Andrew Davis, an airline analyst at T. Rowe Price, according to the AP.
On Thursday, more than 70 percent of flights were canceled in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Charlotte, N.C. thanks to a winter storm that paralyzed most air traffic along the East Coast, the AP reported.
Ice storms this winter have caused major headaches in typically warm cities like Atlanta, Dallas and Houston as well, according to the AP.
"This year is off to a brutal start for airlines and travelers," FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker told the AP. "Not only is each storm causing tens of thousands of cancellations, but there's been a lot of them."
"As an industry, you are prepared for bad weather but I'm not sure if you are ready for this many events back to back," says Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst with Raymond James, according to the AP.
