Storm forces cancellations and delays at Logan
(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)
A US Airways jet lumbered on the tarmac this morning as Logan International Airport was blanketed by snow.
By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff, and Emily Canal, Globe Correspondent
Dozens of inbound and outbound flights were canceled at Logan International Airport as of this afternoon due to the snowy weather, an airport official said.
Sixty-four inbound flights and the same number of outbound flights were canceled; 186 flights were delayed as of 2 p.m., said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs the airport.
At one point this morning, the airport was experiencing more air traffic control delays than any other airport in the country.
Boston-bound planes from other cities had been holding up to an hour during much of the morning on orders from the Federal Aviation Administration. Logan officials said the deicing of outbound planes had caused a bottleneck.
It could get messier for travelers today as holiday traffic builds and delays cascade, said Brelis. He suggested travelers check with their airlines.
Delta Flight 1728 was one flight that saw delays. Scheduled to depart for Los Angeles at 7:30 a.m., it was ultimately cancelled after passengers waited for it to take off for more than eight hours.
David Levin, 56, of Chestnut Hill, who was taking a business trip to LA, said in a cellphone interview that the plane didn't push back from the gate until 12:30. It then ventured out onto the runway but headed back to the gate at about 4 and then was cancelled.
"It was just a joke. They could have gotten us out," he said. He said hundreds of people were queuing up at the ticket counters late this afternoon to try to get a flight out. "This place is a zoo now."
Delta spokesman Anthony Black said planes needed an unusually long amount of time to be deiced this morning. He also said the airport had given Flight 1728 a runway change.
"This is Mother Nature. There’s nothing specifically we can do," he said.
