'Snowpocalypse' pushed airline costs over $600M

The massive snowstorm that covered much of North America last week may have pushed weather-related costs for the U.S airline industryover $600 million this winter.

The winter travel season has already resulted in the biggest number of weather-related cancellations since the U.S. government began tracking data, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Research firm FlightAware.com calculated that 89,884 flights have been cancelled across the United States since Nov. 1.Data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics indicates the previous worst season for cancellations was between November 2000and February 2001, when airlines failed to operate 76,851 scheduled flights, or 3.93 per cent of normal flight loads.

Last week, astorm system nicknamed"Snowpocalypse"hit the eastern seaboard, resulting in the cancellation of more than 20,000 flights between Jan. 31 and Feb. 4. That figure represents roughly 13 per cent of the usual air traffic volumefor five regularweekdays.

Chicago and New York each gotabout 50 centimetres of snow last week, and delays in those two major air traffic hubs cascaded through the system.

Adding in the recent cancellations,investor research firmAirlineForecasts LLC estimates the major North American air carriers have lost roughly $629 million in revenuebecause of bad weather this winter, or more than $7,000 per cancelled flight, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The major U.S. carriers were warningof abnormally high numbers of cancelled flights even before the storm last week. United Continental said its fourth-quarter revenue was down by $25 million because of bad weather, while rival JetBlue said it lost the same amount.

Delta said bad weather in Europe and the U.S. cut profit by $45 million.

"I cant believe Im talking about snow again," Delta CEO Richard Anderson told employees on Feb. 3. "When were seeing record or near-record snow across the heartland and the Northeast, that definitely has an impact on our operation and airline operations all over the U.S."

The impact on Canadian carrier WestJetwas much less, in part because the storm hit the major hub of Toronto with much less fury.

"We cancelled about a dozen flights pre-emptively the day before to preserve the rest of the schedule," WestJet spokesperson Robert Palmer said. "We do unfortunately have to cancel, from time to time, during the winter."

Air Canada's Peter Fitzpatrick said the company has not calculated the storm's concrete economic impact, but the airline sometimes publishes that data when it has it, in its quarterly reports, he said.

Reduced revenue caused by weather woes comes as the airline industry struggles to deal with additionalcosts. Jet fuel costs are up byabout 10 per cent so far in 2011, based largely on rising crude oil prices.