Frontier, United cancel flights due to snow

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DENVER - The snow storm moving across Colorado is causing headaches for airport travelers.

Frontier Airlines said they canceled 19 flights in and out of Denver International Airport on Thursday because the airport has been unable to keep enough runways and taxiways open.

The airline also said some flights have delayed by as much as four hours.

On Tuesday, Frontier Airlines canceled some flights in preparation for the snow and United Airlines did the same.

United Airlines, the dominant carrier at DIA, canceled about half of its flights, which it says is standard procedure during snow storms

On Thursday morning, United spokesperson Charlie Hobart announced the reduction of United's flights by almost 50 percent. Hobart says a schedule reduction of 50 percent is standard procedure for a snowstorm of this magnitude.Hobart says United has been given one runway for arrivals and one for departures. Normally the airline has half a dozen runways.

United is urging all passengers to check United Airlines' Web site.

Additionally, United, Frontier and Southwest Airlines all extended travel waivers to passengers who are booked on flights Wednesday and Thursday. That means any travelers who want or need to switch flights will not have to pay a change fee.

Airport spokesperson Chuck Cannon recommends all travelers check with their airline before heading to DIA.

"A number of airlines... have cancelled flights in anticipation of a pretty strong storm... So travelers who had tickets for today should check with their airlines before they even come to the airport to make sure that that flight is still on the schedule," he said.

DIA is asking passengers to plan be in the terminal two hours before departure. They are also advising against arriving too early, as it can add to ticket counter and security line congestion.

Cannon says operations at DIA are at full speed as the weather continues to intensifies.

"We have our full compliment of snow crews out both airside and landside working the runways and taxi ways and Pena Boulevard. We're working to keep up with it," he said.

Cannon says the airports efforts started Tuesday evening when crews switched to 12-hour shifts.

"Our staffing, the snow crews have gone on 12-hour shifts. They did that effective yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Those folks went out at 3 o'clock, started getting all of the equipment ready," Cannon explained. "They worked until 3 this morning.

Another shift came in at 3 a.m.; they'll work till 3 p.m. this afternoon. We'll just keep it going like that until the storm's done."

Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon says DIA crews are keeping up with snow removal and that the airport was up to 64 arrivals per hour by midmorning. He says that's about double the number from hours earlier.


Two east-west runways are closed and the remaining four are open. 

Denver International Airport flight information