This weekend, adverse weather related to Winter Storm Fern caused considerable disruption to commercial aviation operations in the eastern US. According to the BBC, at least seven people have died as a result of the extreme conditions, with some 800,000 people having been left without power.

Naturally, the adverse winter weather has had huge impacts on the region’s airlines and airports, and, with the weekend having now come to an end, we can take a closer look at the data to see what it tells us for each of the last few days. Needless to say, huge numbers of delays and cancellations were to be reckoned with, but which airlines and airports were hit the hardest? Using figures from Flight Aware, let’s dive into the data and see.

Friday Saw More Delays Than Cancellations

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Starting chronologically, on Friday, January 23, 2026, Flight Aware’s data shows that, while US airports and airlines did face considerable operational disruption, services were still able to operate, with more delays than outright cancellations. Indeed, while regional carrier SkyWest Airlines topped the table with 711 delays on Friday, representing 28% of its total daily operations, only 117 (4%) of its flights actually ended up being cancelled.

This trend is also evident when we look at airports, with Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) having been Friday’s worst-hit facility by disruption to arrivals. Indeed, the Texan hub saw 122 inbound cancellations (12%), but this figure was outstripped by 166 inbound delays (16%). American Airlines, the airport’s hometown carrier and largest airline, issued a travel advisory on its website, which informed potentially impacted passengers of the following:

“When severe weather or other uncontrollable events impact your flight and travel dates, you may be able to change your trip with no change fee. If your flight is impacted, we’ll reach out via email and app notifications.”

Saturday Struggles

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Moving into Saturday, the adverse weather associated with Winter Storm Fern took a turn for the worse, with cancellations beginning to outstrip delays. American Airlines had the roughest time, with 1,068 cancellations accounting for 35% of its daily operations. These were joined by 498 delays (16%). Elsewhere, Southwest (589), Envoy Air (371), SkyWest (343), and PSA Airlines (268) also saw high cancellation totals on Saturday.

Dallas/Fort Worth International remained the worst US airport when it came to operational disruption on Saturday, with 775 of its outbound flights cancelled on January 24. This represented a proportion of 86%, and another 68 of its departures (7%) were delayed. Elsewhere, Charlotte (241), Nashville (152), Chicago O’Hare (139), and Atlanta (138) also had three-figure totals in terms of the number of departures that were shelved.

DFW Airport was also the worst-hit US hub when it came to inbound traffic, albeit not to the same extent as its outbound services. Indeed, with 714 arrivals cancelled, this represented a slightly lower proportion of 80%. However, this is still a huge ratio overall, underlining the extent of its operational disruption. The same four other airports with three-figure cancellation totals for departures on Saturday also had more than 100 arrivals cancelled.

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Four Carriers Had Four-Figure Cancellation Totals On Sunday

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Unfortunately, things could only get worse before they could get better, with Sunday, January 25, 2026, seeing a grand total of 11,599 cancellations to flights within, into, or out of the United States. For context, FlightAware reports that, in the world as a whole, there were 12,589 cancellations, meaning that the US accounted for over 92.1% of these. American Airlines fared the worst, with 1,898 cancellations (58%) and 754 delays (23%).

However, as it turned out, the Fort Worth-based oneworld founding member was actually one of four US carriers with over 1,000 cancellations on January 25: the others were Delta (1,484), Southwest (1,347), and United (1,019), and Republic Airways wasn’t far behind, with 911. As seen above, there are also hundreds of cancellations already in the books today, but airlines will be hoping that, by now, the worst of the impacts is behind them.