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Airlines battle to restore US services after ‘Snowzilla’

Image credit: kmichal / Shutterstock.com

Airlines are battling to restore transatlantic schedules after an unprecedented blizzard caused multiple flight cancellations to the east coast of the US.

The weekend storm, dubbed ‘Snowzilla’, left 16 to 20 inches of snow across New York and northern New Jersey, with totals reaching almost three feet in and around the Washington area.

An estimated 85 million people were affected, with power cuts to as many as 300,000. At least 29 deaths have been recorded since the storm hit on Friday.

New York suffered the second highest snowfall since records began in 1869.

British Airways cancelled six London to New York flights and all three Washington-bound services on Sunday, with three other flights subject to delays.

Three Virgin Atlantic flights from London to Washington and New York were grounded. Both carriers said flights to Boston were operating with delays.

Virgin Atlantic flights to New York and Boston should return to normal service today (Monday), with the carrier saying its Washington service is also due to resume today.

BA advised travellers to continue to check its website for travel updates but said it planned to run a normal flight schedule to the US east coast today.

An estimated 13,232 flights in the US were cancelled from Friday.

Hundreds of US domestic flights remain cancelled today although a number of airports in the area are now operating.

Other airlines forced to cancel transatlantic flights included Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, SAS and Aeroflot.

All New York public transport services are expected to be running in time for today’s morning rush hour after a travel ban effectively shut the city down.

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