The flight cancellations are rolling in at General Mitchell International Airport as a winter storm settles in over the Milwaukee area.
Several afternoon flights have been proactively canceled, said Ryan McAdams, marketing manager at General Mitchell.
So far, about 20 of the approximately 110 departures scheduled for today have been canceled, mostly by Southwest Airlines and particularly for arrival at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“(Southwest does) a pretty good job of if it looks like they’re going to have to cancel flights they do it as soon as possible” so passengers can rebook, McAdams said.
Each airline has its own parameters and makes its own cancellation decisions. In the meantime, crews at Mitchell are busy clearing runways, taxiways and ramp areas.
“Our primary runway is two miles long, 200 feet wide. Our snow crews are able to fully clear it in less than 20 minutes,” McAdams said. “We’re able to look at the schedule of when flights are coming in and try to schedule it in between when flights are coming in.”
Depending on how the storm plays out, more flights may be canceled this afternoon. McAdams advised passengers to keep in touch with their airlines about flight statuses.
