Airlines canceled majority of Sunday flights at RDU even before winter storm arrived
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- Nearly 50 arrivals and more than 25 departures at RDU were canceled before storm.
- Some cancellations stemmed from upstream winter weather; others were preemptive moves.
- RDU plans to keep at least one commercial runway open and urges passengers to check.
The winter weather expected to keep people off the roads in North Carolina is also disrupting travel in and out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
About 360 arriving and departing flights on Sunday have been canceled. Only a handful of evening departures are still scheduled, and those are subject to change, said airport officials, who urged people to check with their airlines about flights in the coming days.
Already Sunday afternoon, more than 70 Monday flights in and out of RDU had been canceled.
Nationwide, nearly 10,900 flights have been canceled Sunday, most due to the weather, according to FlightAware. Another 2,300 are already canceled nationwide on Monday.
Some RDU flights were scrubbed because of weather conditions in other cities, as the storm moves in from the west toward the Northeast. Others were canceled in anticipation of deteriorating weather in North Carolina.
The storm intensified in the Triangle overnight and will continue through Sunday, with ice and freezing rain making travel treacherous. RDU officials urge people to check with their airline before venturing out to catch a departing flight or pick someone up at the airport.
Airlines canceled dozens of arrivals and departures at RDU on Saturday, well before the storm moved in. Southwest Airlines told RDU that it would cease flight operations at the airport at 3 p.m. Saturday, and United Airlines said it would stop at 4 p.m., according to airport spokeswoman Stephanie Hawco.
By 3 p.m. Saturday, airlines had already canceled 35 flights that had been scheduled to leave RDU on Sunday morning.
Several of the Saturday flights canceled at RDU involved American Airlines, which announced that it was adding 3,000 additional seats on its route from its hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Saturday in anticipation of weather problems in North Carolina.
“By adding capacity at its second-largest hub, American is giving customers more options to connect onward and minimize possible disruptions,” the airline said in a statement.
RDU crews are prepared to keep at least one of its two commercial runways open at all times throughout the storm. Snow and ice have not forced RDU to shut down for any length of time since the historic snow storm of 2000, when more 20 inches of snow and lingering cold closed the airport for two days.
This story was originally published January 24, 2026 at 12:37 PM.
