About 7,000 flights in the US have been canceled

Plane

Various US airlines have canceled around seven thousand flights so far before Christmas.

At Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York, all evening flights were canceled on Friday due to difficult conditions.

Amtrak also canceled many train trips over the Christmas period, disrupting the holiday plans of thousands of passengers.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the US aviation system is under “tremendous pressure” as several storms and high winds are affecting airport operations across the country.

About 10 percent of American flights were canceled Thursday, Buttigieg said. “We may see more disruptions or delays in traffic,” he said.

Otherwise, Southwest canceled 889 flights Friday, more than a fifth of all scheduled flights, while Alaska Airlines canceled 359 of them, or 46 percent of its flights.