Hundreds Of Flights Canceled At DIA Due To Snowstorm
DENVER (AP/CBS4) - Denver airport officials say hundreds of flights have been cancelled ahead and during a snowstorm expected to dump nearly a foot of snow in the area.
Denver International Airport said Sunday that airlines have reported about 200 cancellations for flights arriving or leaving before noon Sunday. Many other flights are also delayed. Heavy snow and high wind gusts arrived in the metro area and northeastern Colorado Saturday night.
"As soon as we were getting ready to go, they said everybody off, we're going to have a four-hour delay," a traveler told CBS4.
"We had a flight for 12 p.m., but that got cancelled," another traveler said. "Then a flight for 7 p.m. to Gunnison, but that got canceled."
It's recommended to call ahead or visit flydenver.com to see if a flight may be canceled or delayed.
Pena Boulevard has been chemically treated and is mostly wet with isolated areas of patchy thin slush.
DIA has more than 250 pieces of snow removal equipment and approximately 500 trained snow removal personnel.
The airlines will be deicing all day Sunday, meaning passengers may be on the plane a little longer before takeoff, but that they should continue to plan on being at the gate when their boarding pass states.
Delays of up to two hours are being reported by the Federal Aviation Administration.
DIA averages 1,700 departure and arrival flights a day, and on the weekends there are fewer flights.
Meteorologists say as much as 6 to 10 inches of snow could fall in Denver, accompanied by gusts of 25 mph west of Interstate 25 and up to 40 mph east of the interstate. A blizzard watch has been issued for much of the Eastern Plains.
The heaviest snow accumulations were expected in Douglas and Elbert counties, where 6 to 12 inches may fall.
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