Denver International Airport was holding up well Wednesday in the face of a large winter storm, with about 17% of the day’s departures canceled but few major delays.
Nearly 150 departing flights were canceled as of 9:10 a.m. — or nearly 1 in 6 of those scheduled — while 115 arriving flights were canceled, or 13%, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware. The bulk of those cancellation decisions were made by airlines preemptively on Tuesday afternoon, as the storm approached.
Among remaining flights, FlightAware showed 77 flight delays into or out of DIA, with the vast majority on time. Wait times at security checkpoints were running about 20 minutes for standard screening, but that can fluctuate throughout the day.
“Things are running smoothly,” said Stephanie Figueroa, an airport spokeswoman.
Southwest, SkyWest and Frontier airlines accounted for most of cancellations, with each calling off 25-30% of their daily schedules through DIA. SkyWest operates regional flights for major carriers, including many United Express flights.
But United Airlines, DIA’s largest carrier, was maintaining nearly its full schedule of mainline flights, which tend to serve larger cities and those farther from Denver.
The National Weather Service reported 7.7 inches of snow had accumulated at DIA as of 5 a.m. Snow was expected to continue falling as the storm moves east on Wednesday, with about 1 to 5 more inches forecast. A winter storm warning was in effect until 5 p.m.
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