(San Francisco) More than 3,000 flights were canceled Friday and thousands more were delayed because of a winter storm in the southern United States, according to airlines and the FlightAware website.
Delta Airlines teams hope to return to a normal schedule on Saturday, the company said in a press release.
“Worse-than-expected winter weather conditions at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (Georgia) International Airport resulted in the closure of all five runways for more than two hours Friday morning,” the company noted.
Delta canceled some 1,100 flights across its entire network on Friday because of “freezing rain that continued throughout the day and early evening, leading to diversions.”
“A temporary pause in the de-icing of aircraft further complicated the resumption of activities,” detailed the company.
One of the Delta Airlines planes also had to abort its takeoff due to an engine problem, also at Atlanta airport.
More than 200 passengers and crew members who were on board the Boeing 757-300 bound for Minneapolis (flight 2668) were evacuated by emergency slides, according to a company statement relayed by the American press. An investigation is underway.
Dallas Fort Worth (Texas) and Charlotte Douglas (North Carolina) were also affected by the bad weather, with more than 1,200 flights canceled from and to these two airports.
The United States already suffered a major winter storm earlier this week, which swept across the center and east of the country, killing at least five people and causing hundreds of flight cancellations.
Temperatures dropped to -18°C in places and tens of thousands of people were left without electricity.
