Weather in January in the United states proved costly for both the air travellers and air carriers as it led to major financial losses to them. According to a study published by masFlight, an airline operations software company, passengers lost 2.5 billions dollars while airlines incurred loss of 75 million to 150 million dollars as some 30 million air travellers faced one of the worst month of flight operations in recent past.
The study said that the Arctic air mass or the Polar Vortex and followed up winter storms have forced US airlines to cancel 49,000 flights and delayed another 300,000 during the last month, January. Before this, the February 2010 weather was considered to be the worst as more than 32500 flights were canceled due to back to back winter storms.
The study further said that in addition to the lost productivity and additional expenses, such as hotel rooms and meals, cancelled flights added an approximately 18 additional hours to passenger travel time owing to high industry load factors and a consequent difficulty in re-booking.
Meanwhile, passengers and airlines will not breath a sigh of relief as forecast suggests three back to back winter storms could lash half of the United states with snow during the week, leading to more delay and cancellation of flights.
The Arctic blast or polar Vortex which is also known as an Arctic cyclone, sub-polar cyclone, and a circumpolar whirl is a cold core low pressure area in the Arctic region. The cold core low pressure area strengthens in winter and weakens in summer.
Photograph by Gabriel Widyna
