Storm cancels nearly 900 flights, delays over 3,000

A winter storm heading for the East Coast has forced the delay of thousands of flights and the cancellation hundreds more during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

As of Wednesday morning, the storm was responsible for delaying more than 3,000 flights and canceling nearly 900 others, mostly in Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Chicago and New York, according to airline tracking website Flightstats.com.

The delays have yet to be felt at Los Angeles International Airport, the nation’s fifth busiest airport. Only a few flights -- departing for Dallas and Newark, N.J. --were delayed more than an hour each Wednesday morning, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

As the storm moved toward the East Coast, the nation’s busiest airspace, travel experts predicted even more disruption.

“Expect delays and cancellations for the next 48 hours,” said Joe Brancatelli, an online columnist on business travel.

The American Automobile Assn. has predicted that 92.3 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period, a 3.1% increase over last year.

At LAX, airport operators have predicted that the period between Dec. 21 and Jan. 2 will be the busiest for holiday travelers, with the highest number of travelers flying on Dec. 21, 23 and 28, and Jan. 2.

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