Denver International Airport was holding up well Wednesday in the face of a large winter storm, but by mid-afternoon, about 20% of the day’s departures were canceled. And hundreds of flights were experiencing delays.
Nearly 180 departing flights were canceled as of 7 p.m., while 142 arriving flights were canceled, or 16%, according to . Those numbers have inched up slightly from the totals this morning, but the bulk of cancellation decisions were made by airlines preemptively on Tuesday afternoon, as the storm approached.
Southwest, SkyWest and Frontier airlines accounted for most of the cancellations. Southwest and Frontier called off about 30% of their daily schedules through DIA. SkyWest, which operates regional flights for major carriers — including many United Express flights — had canceled 39% of its schedule, a figure that was rising during the afternoon.
But United Airlines, DIA’s largest carrier, was maintaining nearly its full schedule of mainline flights, which tend to serve larger cities and those farther from Denver.
Among remaining flights, delays have been spreading. FlightAware showed more than 770 delays on flights into or out of DIA, a figure that has risen rapidly during the afternoon and evening.
Wait times at were running about 10-20 minutes for standard screening, but that can fluctuate throughout the day.
“Things are running smoothly,” said Stephanie Figueroa, an airport spokeswoman, on Wednesday morning, though delays piled up later in the day.
The National Weather Service reported 7.7 inches of snow had accumulated at DIA as of 5 a.m. Snow was expected to continue falling as the storm moves east on Wednesday, with about 1 to 5 more inches forecast. A winter storm warning was in effect until 5 p.m.
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