Thousands of flights cancelled in US and Canada amid winter storms

More than 3,000 flights were cancelled to and from the US and Canada on Sunday, after large parts of North America were hit by winter storms.

Over 8,000 flights were delayed on the same day.

According to flight data from website FlightAware, the Canadian province of Ontario was badly affected, along with Virginia, Georgia, and North and South Carolina in the US.

The four US states all declared states of emergency due to the fierce winter storms.

North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas international airport was the worst affected, FlightAware showed, with 90 per cent of flights cancelled.

“CLT has had minimal departures today. Currently, two of CLT’s three parallel runways are open,” read a statement on the airport’s website on Sunday.

“The majority of airlines serving CLT have cancelled flights for today. Passengers should check with their airline for cancellations or delays before coming to the airport.”

Some 145,00 homes were without power across states including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida as storms raged through the southeast of the country.

American Airlines announced that it would allow customers affected by the weather to rebook flights for free, waiving any fees attached.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s winter storm - which started on Sunday and is expected to continue for several days - was described as the “biggest winter storm we’ve had in several years,” by Canadian meteorologist Anthony Farnell.

Toronto Airport is expected to see 15 to 20cm of snow as the stormy conditions escalate.

North America has already suffered tens of thousands of flight cancellations between December and early January due to staff absences linked to the surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant, as well as severe winter weather.

Since Christmas, more than 29,000 US flights have been cancelled across the industry, according to The New York Times. Stormy winter weather has also led to trips being cut or delayed.

Chicago and Denver were two of the states worst affected by adverse weather at the start of the new year.