A snowstorm across Colorado has affected flight operations at Denver International Airport, with several flights either canceled or delayed. All airlines operating out of the airport have been impacted, including Southwest, with more than 40% of its flights delayed.

Operations impacted

Denver International Airport has had dozens of flights canceled or delayed as Colorado faces snow and sub-zero temperatures due to a snowstorm. The airport has posted a message on Twitter asking passengers to check with their airlines and expect delays of up to two hours.

At one point, FlightAware showed a total of 967 delays at the airport, while the figure for flight cancelations stood at 197. Predictably, US airlines were most affected, but some international airlines also faced delays, including British Airways, Lufthansa, and Air Canada.

All airlines affected

An airline-wide breakdown of delays and cancellations put Southwest Airlines at the top of the list regarding cancellations, with 121 or 24% of its total flights canceled at one point. The carrier also had 215 or 43% of all its flights running behind schedule out of Denver.

SkyWest Airlines also had 49 flights (16%) canceled and 195 (64%) of its flight delayed, while Frontier Airlines had 54 flights (53%) delayed and 14 (13%) canceled. More than 300 United Airlines flights were also delayed at one point. Since then, these figures have improved, according to FlightAware.

The storm

The snowstorm in Colorado prompted authorities to issue Winter Weather Advisory from midnight Wednesday to midnight Thursday. The weather forecast predicted four to eight inches of snow in Denver itself.

Tricky winter weather and associated snowstorms often affect flights in several parts of the United States every year. Earlier this month, almost 4,000 flights across the US were canceled due to Winter Storm Mara. Dallas (DFW, DAL), Austin (AUS), and Nashville (BNA) accounted for around half of the canceled departures.

Photo: Denver International Airport

American Airlines and Southwest took the hardest hit, with 1,400 flights canceled in a day. Denver International Airport was also affected back then, with over 100 delays and cancelations.

Trailing the national average

While delays and cancellations are an unfortunate consequence of poor weather, Denver airport seems to trail the national average when it comes to on-time departures.

Axios Denver cites data from the latest Bureau of Transportation Statistics figures, which states that 76% of domestic flights from DIA had a timely departure in November 2022, compared with 81% at the national level. In fact, Denver International Airport was behind the national average for the entire year in 2022, except for December, for which data wasn't available.

Denver, which remains one of the busiest airports in the world, also saw a record number of passengers last year, witnessing almost 70 million travelers passing through its terminals.

Has your flight also been affected at Denver International Airport? Please leave a comment below.

Source: Axios Denver