BY BEN POPKEN
February 12, 2014
Starting at 5 a.m. a freezing rain fell in Atlanta, leaving surfaces covered in ice. By 8 a.m., over 0.27" of ice formed at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, reported The Weather Channel. By 9 a.m., the rain turned to sleet.
As of mid-morning, 3,003 flights were canceled and 3,198 delayed, over 2,000 of them at the Atlanta hub, where only 259 flights were scheduled to fly today, an airport spokesman said.
Delta said it had canceled over 2,200 flights Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly centered around Atlanta, and offered refunds and waived change fees to those with canceled or significantly delayed flights.
Southwest said it had canceled all Atlanta flights and planned on resuming normal operations Thursday. It offered eligible customers free ticket changes....
An entire day's revenue lost. I am waiting for the airline industry to ask the government for a bailout. Just waiting. The City of Atlanta is completely crippled.
