Winter storm snarls air travel in US Midwest

By Kyle Peterson

CHICAGO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - A winter storm in the U.S. Midwest resulted in widespread flight cancellations and delays, disrupting travel plans for thousands and testing the ability of the newly downsized airline industry to cope with weather-related hassles.

Chicago bore the brunt of the snow and ice, which snarled operations at O'Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway Airport. But as the storm headed east, airlines braced for traffic backups.

"Customers scheduled to travel on flights out of our Cleveland and New York hubs and other airports in the Northeast should anticipate delays and some flight cancellations because of the storm," said Continental Airlines (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) spokeswoman Julie King.

The Chicago Aviation Department reported nearly 300 flight cancellations at Chicago's two main airports. At least 500 flights were cancelled at New York's three main airports, most of them at Newark.

American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which has a hub at O'Hare said it cancelled 45 round-trip flights from O'Hare because of bad weather. Delays ranged from 30 minutes to an hour. The carrier also canceled some flights in New York and Boston in anticipation of winter storms.

"We do thin out flights like that when the weather forecast is certain and we know it will help prevent backups later on," said AMR spokesman Tim Wagner.

U.S. airlines slashed capacity this year to offset fuel costs and to ensure pricing power as the souring economy erodes travel demand. During the year-end holiday travel season, downsizing brought about a 9 percent reduction of seats for sale, according to the Air Transport Association (ATA), an industry trade group.

As a result, airports are less crowded, but flights are at capacity. The ATA said planes will average 90 percent full during the busiest travel days, Dec. 19 to Dec. 27.