So far, 37.5% of U.S. departing flights have been cancelled today, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium. While over 9,000 flights in total have been cancelled, and that number will grow, it’s not actually a record for the past 20 years. In the early day of the pandemic, on March 30, 2020, 12,143 flights were cancelled which was 53% of the published schedule.
Already 8% of Monday flights have been cancelled, but that will grow significantly.
Over 90% of flights at Washington’s National airport were cancelled, and a similar percentage at Washington Dulles. 83% of the schedule was canned at each of New York JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark. Of course these numbers will rise with about 8 hours left in the day on the East Coast at the time cancel numbers were pulled. Charlotte was also 83% cancelled. Philadelphia was worst-hit so far amongst major hubs with 93% cancelled.
Overall, here’s what Cirium data shows for how each airline has been affected today:
| Airline | Flights | # Cancelled | % Cancelled | |||
| JetBlue | 654 | 498 | 76.15% | |||
| American | 5,573 | 3,201 | 57.44% | |||
| Delta | 4,601 | 2,183 | 47.45% | |||
| United | 4,240 | 1,731 | 40.83% | |||
| Frontier | 596 | 192 | 32.21% | |||
| Allegiant | 416 | 116 | 27.88% | |||
| Spirit | 448 | 78 | 17.41% | |||
| Alaska | 1,119 | 88 | 7.86% | |||
| Southwest | 3,762 | 270 | 7.18% |
Unsurprisingly, airlines with significant operations in the Northeast – JetBlue has its strongest concentrations in New York and Boston – fared worst. And JetBlue has already cancelled over 30% of its flights for Monday.
American is heavy in New York and D.C., and Charlotte and Dallas fared poorly as well. United was affected at its Washington Dulles and Newark hubs. And, of course, the effect of cancellations reverberate across an airline’s network (since planes and crew often fly through the system).
Here in Austin we got an overnight downpour with temperatures below freezing all day today – and likely only to be above freezing for a few hours tomorrow. So roads are largely impassable and schools are cancelled even here in Central Texas.
We are seeing a lot more sleet mixing in with the freezing rain, including now thunder sleet in the Austin metro area! pic.twitter.com/g2YNEVcy6H
— NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) January 25, 2026
I’m supposed to fly tomorrow morning but I don’t expect to be able to make it to the airport… even if somehow things are in better shape tomorrow than today in the Northeast where I’m headed. So I have to decide whether to try to push to a late flight tomorrow evening (which entails its own operational risks) or try to fly out Tuesday (leaving only a few things left on my planned agenda). And I wouldn’t be looking to 6 degree overnight temperatures in any case!
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