Flight cancellations in the US swell to more than 2,800 on Monday amid winter storm

Thousands of flights were canceled and thousands more delayed on Monday as a winter storm slammed the east coast of the United States.

A total of 2,882 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled as of 2:35 p.m. eastern time on Monday, according to FlightAware. That number had increased by more than 1,000 over the course of six hours.

More than 3,800 delays had been issued as of 2:35 p.m., according to FlightAware.

Southwest canceled 605 flights, American Airlines reported 163 cancellations, JetBlue canceled 148 trips, United called off 131 flights and Delta issued 128 cancellations.

A winter storm raced up the East Coast Monday, leaving some areas covered in snow. Airports in the Washington, D.C., area, including Reagan National Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, reported a large number of canceled flights Monday morning, according to The Washington Post.

Both hubs were under a ground stop from the Federal Aviation Administration for a period of time, which paused operations at those airports and stopped flights that were meant to land there from taking off, according to the Post.

Reagan National Airport had the most cancellations as of 2:20 p.m. Eastern time, according to FlightAware, followed by Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport with 164 cancellations.

New York’s LaGuardia saw 119 cancellations, Washington’s Dulles International Airport had 98 canceled flights and the Denver International Airport saw 96 trips called off.

The storm-driven cancellations come just days after the U.S. saw a large number of canceled flights during the busy holiday travel season, driven in part by the nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases that contributed to staff shortages at airlines.