Extreme Weather Emerging as Top Travel Concern For U.S. Travelers
Photo Credit: Airport operations deice a plane at Dallas Fort Worth Airport during a winter storm. Dallas Fort Worth
Skift Take
As extreme weather becomes a fixture of modern travel, airports and airlines face mounting pressure to adapt, while travel insurance helps pick up the slack.
As large parts of the United States recover from a storm that resulted in the cancellation of over 20,000 flights, another system called Winter Storm Gianna is developing off the south-eastern coast.
The disruption highlights a broader shift in how travelers view weather risk, as extreme weather events increasingly disrupt flights and travel plans nationwide.
There were more than 14,500 cancellations last Sunday alone, the worst single day for flight disruptions in the U.S. since Covid, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium and Flightaware.
Josh Weiss from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the storm was "unique" in its scale, stretching more than 2,000 miles and bringing extreme cold expected to persist throughout the week.
Over half a million people lost power by