United States airlines face millions of dollars in costs from a blizzard that blanketed much of the Northeast and left the industry grappling with what may be its worst weather disruption on record.

Revenue will fall as planes are grounded while expenses rise for vouchers issued to stranded travelers, said Michael Derchin, an independent airline analyst in New York. More than 3,200 flights have been canceled today, or 6.4 percent of the total, after about 6,000 were dropped yesterday, carriers said.

“I don’t recall a storm of this magnitude, much less a back-to-back one that hit an area where most of the flights happen to be,” Derchin said. “Airlines are going to have millions and millions of dollars in costs for this.”

Carriers haven’t begun projecting the financial fallout, which they sought to blunt by moving jets before airports shut. In 2006, snowstorms cost United Airlines $40 million in fourth- quarter revenue after canceling 3,900 flights. JetBlue Airways Corp.’s struggles to recover from a 2007 storm cost $41 million.

This week’s storm dumped snow on New York and Philadelphia and was the second in less than a week for Washington. Continental Airlines Inc. resumed service today at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, and flights restarted at Washington’s Dulles airport, a United hub, and Washington’s Reagan National.

Texas Snow

Snow in Texas led AMR Corp.’s American Airlines to cancel 363 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport today, or nearly half the daily departures at its largest hub, said Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for the carrier.

Delta Air Lines Inc. has scrubbed more than 700 flights tomorrow, most in Atlanta, where the forecast calls for as much as 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow, said Anthony Black, a spokesman.

“Airlines will have visited upon them some rather extraordinary costs” this week, said Aaron Gellman, a professor at Northwestern University’s Transportation Center in Evanston, Illinois. He said yesterday that one carrier had a jet used on trans-Atlantic flights stuck at Washington Dulles since Feb. 5.

“That’s a very expensive opportunity cost,” he said. “That airplane could be making money flying.”
Carriers also must pay crews who can’t work and, in some cases, fly planes empty to get them in the right cities to restart operations.

Analyst’s Estimate

The groundings may carve as much as 5 cents a share from some airlines’ first-quarter results, more than the 3 to 4 cents in costs from normal winter weather, said Helane Becker, a Jesup & Lamont Securities analyst in New York. Fuel savings and business travelers who rebook trips should help offset that expense, Becker said today in an interview. (Bloomberg)