MORE FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS AS SNOW PARALYSES AIRPORTS

US carriers cancelled more than 2,000 flights yesterday due to the severe storms that hit areas of the country from Texas to Maine and in the Southwest. The total of flights cancelled this week has now risen above 18,000. The bulk of these were in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport which reported 1,000 cancellations. It’s too soon to assess the impact on the airline profits but the storms in December sliced $10 million from United Continental’s fourth-quarter operating profit of $160 million, which shut down Continental operations at its Newark hub for two days.