More than 1,100 Charlotte airport flights canceled or delayed during latest winter storm

Amber Gaudet, The Charlotte Observer on Jan 31, 2026

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Travelers hoping to fly in or out of Charlotte Saturday won’t have much luck, as most air traffic has been halted amid Winter Storm Gianna, with up to 11 inches expected to fall in the city by Sunday.

Roughly 1,077 flights have been canceled and another 77 delayed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport at about 5:45 p.m., according to flight tracking site Flight Aware.com. That’s a total of 1,154 flight disruptions so far.

Much of the snowfall throughout the region will come on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s been a busy morning at CLT with no signs of slowing down!,” the airport posted on X Saturday morning, while sharing a video of its snow removal operations.

The airport had a 300-person team out Saturday clearing runways, taxiways, roadways, sidewalks and pedestrian areas.

Meanwhile, as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Checkpoints 1 and 3 were closed for the remainder of the day, while Checkpoint 2 remained open. Airport shuttle buses are operating on a reduced schedule and at slower speeds.

At the airport, “wind chill values as low as -1” are forecast Sunday, the NWS said. The wind chill describes how cold the weather feels “based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold,” NWS forecasters said.

Meanwhile, Concord-Padgett Regional Airport closed its runway for snow removal operations and predicted it wouldn’t reopen until Sunday morning, according to a Saturday morning post on X by the airport.

The gridlock arrives just one week after freezing rain and ice from Winter Storm Fern impacted travel across the country, resulting in tens of thousands of flight cancellations.

The Charlotte airport remains open, and airport staff have been taking proactive steps to minimize disruptions, including regularly clearing runways and taxiways, according to a Friday news release.

American Airlines is “closely monitoring” the storm and is allowing affected customers to make free changes to their flight information, the airline said on social media Thursday. American is the dominant airline at CLT, accounting for about 90% of all flights there.

More than half of the airports under American’s travel advisory and change fee waivers are in the Carolinas, the Observer previously reported.

Along with Charlotte, other affected airports include Asheville, Charleston, Columbia, Fayetteville, Florence, Greensboro-High Point, Greenville (N.C.), Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., Hilton Head, S.C., Myrtle Beach, New Bern, Raleigh-Durham and Wilmington.

American passengers qualify to change their flight for free if their initial trip is scheduled before Monday, Feb. 2. Rebooked flights must take place between Thursday, Jan. 29, and Friday, Feb. 6, and remain between the same origin and destination cities. Eligible flights will show a “change trip” option on aa.com.

Charlotte airport is advising travelers to check with their airline for the latest information about flight status.

(Reporter Joe Marusak contributed to this report.)

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