Spokeswoman Peggy Estes said the airline canceled the flights Tuesday when the forecast was calling for freezing rain and sleet that was supposed to hit early Wednesday. Instead, metro Atlanta mostly got just cold rain.
She said Delta's flights at Hartsfield were expected to be back to a normal schedule by Wednesday night with few rippled effects from the scrapped flights.
Estes said, ``They were predicting freezing rain moving across the Southeast. We had an early warning system in place so we could act proactively, and we canceled flights according to the forecast.''
Estes said the early cancellations had nothing to do with the operational mess that befell its schedule January 3 when a storm left nearly five inches of snow on the area. Hundreds of passengers were stranded on planes for up to ten hours as de-icing crews were unable to keep pace with the weather.
She said the airline did not overreact.
Estes said, ``When they're forecasting freezing rains and the temperature is hovering around 32 degrees, you don't have the luxury of second-guessing.''
Although most of metro Atlanta just got rain, there were reports of scattered sleet and snow in north Georgia, particularly in the mountains. It caused some icy patches on the roads but few traffic problems.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/199145