Airlines Look to Avoid Snow Job

ATLANTA (TheStreet) -- At 8 a.m. Thursday morning, Delta(DAL) made its call: Shut down Washington area operations on Friday afternoon.

With 15 to 20 inches of snowfall expected to fall in the area on Friday and Saturday, few would question the decision. But it reflects a new approach for U.S. airlines, which a decade ago had the mindset that as bad weather approached, they would try to operate up until the last minute, trying to get passengers to their destinations -- even if it was likely the effort would vastly inconvenience many of them.

"One thing we have learned regarding storms and their impact is that it makes a huge difference to passengers if we can keep them out of the travel stream, out of the long airport lines we had in the '80s and '90's," said Dave Holtz, a 31-year Delta veteran who oversees flights as director of operations control.

Now, Holtz said, the goal is to make decisions early enough that passengers have time to react. "If you are going to impact passengers, it is wise to do it early," he said. "Instead of dictating to them, and forcing choices on them, we can let them choose their options."

By midday Thursday, Delta had decided to cancel about 500 weekend flights, half of them at the three Washington area airports; 150 at the New York-area airports, where 6 inches of snow is expected, and others in the Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Washington call was relatively easy, because the airports anticipate that after about 4 p.m., plowing will be unable to keep up with the snow falling on the runways. The New York airports are expected to remain open, but with limited capacity because de-icing will slow takeoffs and, in the bad weather, arriving aircraft must be spaced further apart.