More than 1,880 flights delayed Sunday amid holiday travel

WASHINGTON: More than 1,800 flights have been delayed Sunday as a severe weather system affected holiday travel in the United States.

Data from the online flight tracker FlightAware shows that 1,886 flights have been delayed and 55 cancelled within, into or out of the United States through Sunday afternoon, according to United Press International (UPI).

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

There were 2,268,189 travellers logged at Transportation and Security Administration checkpoints on Saturday, more than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic began and any year since.

The number of travellers on Friday, 1,980,837, also passed 2019 numbers, it reported.

The holiday travel comes as a large storm system was forecasted to move from the Mississippi River region to the northeast through Sunday, bringing heavy showers and high winds impacting the Midwest.

Airports advised travellers to arrive early for their flights because of the high passenger volumes.

"We can't stress this enough - plan ahead and arrive early if you're traveling during the #Thanksgiving holiday travel period," UPI cited officials with LaGuardia Airport in New York City said on Twitter.

"Budget extra travel time to arrive at #LaGuardia, park in your reserved spot, check-in, and get through security."

It added that the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the Thanksgiving holiday season is the biggest weekend for holiday travel of the year and that 46,790 flights were expected on Sunday.

-- BERNAMA