SEATAC, Wash. — Dozens of flights have been canceled at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Wednesday morning as snow falls around Western Washington.
As of 8 a.m., 47 flights were canceled at Sea-Tac, with 39 of those being Alaska and Horizon flights. At that time, there were also 35 flights delayed at the airport, according to FlightAware.
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson said the airlines’ flight schedule was proactively reduced to keep operations running as smoothly as possible. Alaska and Horizon are subsidiaries of the Seattle-based Alaska Air Group.
During snowy or icy conditions, operations are intentionally slowed with safety in mind. Moving aircraft and equipment around at the airport takes longer, much like driving on roads during winter conditions, the airline said.
“Reducing or ‘thinning’ the number of flights helps ease congestion at the airport and allows us to maintain a steady flow of aircraft instead of creating traffic jams. A reduced number of flights allows us to focus on deicing our aircraft, which requires extra time and staffing,” a statement from Alaska Airlines said.
©2023 Cox Media Group
