More Than 900 Flights Canceled at Denver International Airport Due to Winter Weather Conditions: Reports

A traveler wears a face covering while heading to the American Airlines check-in counter at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colo., as the Thanksgiving Day holiday approaches Nov. 23, 2021. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Around 900 flights were delayed or canceled through Denver International Airport (DIA) on Jan. 2 amid an ongoing winter storm that created icy conditions and poor visibility, according to reports.

The delays and cancelations came just as the airport was beginning to recover from a turbulent holiday travel season that saw Southwest Airlines leave thousands of passengers stranded across the country, including Denver.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, around 250 flights were canceled through Denver early Monday and another about 400 were delayed.

As of 12:50 p.m. Monday, Southwest Airlines had canceled 116 flights through Denver and delayed another 140, the Denver Post reported; marking roughly 45 percent of its scheduled Denver traffic for Monday.

SkyWest canceled 109 flights and delayed 57; making up roughly 51 percent of its daily Denver traffic, according to the publication, while United delayed 151 flights, totaling 30 percent of its traffic for Monday.

However, by the end of the day on Monday, 947 flights arriving and taking off from DIA were delayed, according to FlightAware, and 295 were canceled, meaning that Denver airport was leading the nation in delays and cancellations that day.

The National Weather Service at Boulder said on Twitter on Monday that low visibility and icy conditions at DIA were likely the reasons behind canceled flights.

“Unfortunately, we don’t expect the conditions to improve very much through the afternoon and evening,” NWS added.

Denver was under a weather advisory until late Monday as snow continued to fall and temperatures remained freezing. Tuesday, however, is expected to bring some slightly sunnier weather although temperatures are set to remain cold, with a high of 34 degrees.

Southwest Airlines passengers wait in line at the baggage services office after U.S. airlines, led by Southwest, canceled thousands of flights due to a massive winter storm which swept over much of the country before and during the Christmas holiday weekend, at Dallas Love Field Airport in Dallas on Dec. 28, 2022. Shelby Tauber/Reuters

Southwest Airlines Leaves Thousands Stranded

The sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures will continue through Thursday, according to NWS Boulder.

Overall throughout the United States on Monday, a total of 8,806 flights within, into, or out of the country were delayed, while 827 were canceled as the winter weather continues to wreak havoc on the travel industry.

The latest bout of travel issues comes after Southwest Airlines’ CEO Bob Jordan apologized after more than 15,000 flights were canceled over the Christmas holiday period, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

In an interview with “Good Morning America,” Jordan said he recognized that the travel chaos was “impacting so many people, so many customers over the holidays.”

“It’s impacted our employees and I’m extremely sorry for that. There’s just no way almost to apologize enough because we love our customers, we love our people, and really impacted their plans,” he said. “There will be a lot of lessons learned that come out of this. We already had a great plan to invest in tools and technology and processes as we always do, but there will be a lot of lessons learned in terms of what we can do to make sure this never happens again.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation conducted a review of the cancellations and subsequently found that Southwest Airlines’ leadership was at fault for the delays and cancellations.

“While weather can disrupt flight schedules, the thousands of cancellations by Southwest in recent days have not been because of the weather,” Secretary of Transport Pete Buttigieg said in a Dec. 29 letter to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan.

Buttigieg also reminded Southwest airlines that it is obliged to help passengers who have been left stranded to reach their destinations “safely and quickly” and to provide them with costs for meals, hotels, and ground transportation. Airlines must also promptly issue refunds to customers who are unable to rebook their flights.