Austin, TX
Austin airport seeing mass cancellations as winter storm wreaks havoc on Texas airports
Drone video shows Butler Park in Austin blanketed in brilliant snow
Parts of Austin are snow-clad as Texas is experiencing another snowstorm.
This story has been updated to add video and photo gallery.
This winter’s harshest Arctic blast so far is coursing through Texas, stymying everyday functions like school, work, and travel. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is already among the airports with the highest number of cancellations in the world today, and other airports across the state are not faring much better.
For Austinites, Tuesday morning started with sleet and snow accumulations ranging from half an inch to 2 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Moreover, this winter storm cell has necessitated a winter storm warning that is in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. There is also a cold weather advisory in place until noon Wednesday as temperatures are expected to get as low as 23 degrees.
As for what this means for Austin’s airport, the organization has spent years preparing for storms like this. Despite the surge in cancellations, Austin is actually performing better than other Texas metropolises in terms of airfare on Tuesday.
From cancellations in Austin to full closures in Houston, here’s what to know about what travel will look like in the next few days across Texas.
Austin’s airport weathering the storm amid mass cancellations
At the time of writing Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has seen 69 total flights cancelled, or 16 percent of all flights, and 71 flights delayed — about 12 percent of all flights. These numbers rank Austin’s airport eighth in the world for origin airport cancellations on January 21, according to FlightAware.
While Austin-Bergstrom has remained open it the airport was forced to curb services because of the cold weather.
“Due to weather conditions, all parking trams are temporarily suspended. Please walk carefully to the terminal, as icy surfaces may exist,” the ABIA said in a social media post.
The top airlines that are seeing cancellations and delays at Austin’s airport are Southwest Airlines, with 25 cancellations and 42 delays; United Airlines with 16 cancellations and one delay; and SkyWest Airlines with 12 cancellations and five delays.
Other Texas airports are struggling with the weather as both Bush and Hobby close
Five of the airports with the most cancellations by origin airport in the world today are located in Texas. Most notably, both of Houston’s commercial airports have completely closed in what is a stunning move.
This means the top two airports affected by cancellations in the world are Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby International Airport in Houston. These two airports alone have generated a staggering 1,247 total cancellations, according to data from FlightAware.
In preparation for the weather, Houston had preemptively closed multiple overpasses around its airports. However, the weather was too extreme, and operations were forced to stop.
“Flight operations are temporarily suspended and our dedicated teams remain on site preparing for a safe return to operations as soon as weather conditions allow. We will provide updates as they become available,” Bush Airport said in a social media statement.
At the time of writing both Bush and Hobby remain closed. These mass cancellations are expected to have a cascading effect on air travel in the coming days, but neither airport has commented on how this will be handled.
Elsewhere in the Lone Star State Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are all scrambling to maintain operations.
Dallas-Fort Worth International has seen 189 total cancellations while San Antonio International has seen 69 total cancellations at the time of writing.
Nationwide, Southwest and United are left holding the bag as they are the airlines with the most canceled flights, accounting for more than 900 canceled flights combined.
Beck Andrew Salgado covers trending topics in the Austin business ecosystem for the American-Statesman. To share additional tips or insights with Salgado, email Bsalgado@gannett.com.