Athena Storm Cancels Nearly 600 More Flights Thursday

Flight cancelations continued in the Northeast on Thursday after a second storm, named Athena by the Weather Channel, battered a region still dealing with the aftermath of Sandy.

Some 595 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Thursday, according to airline tracking website FlightAware. Most of the disruption occurred at New York City’s three main airports: Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and John F Kennedy.

Newark Liberty, the worst hit by Hurricane Sandy, had it the worst of the three with 124 flights canceled, followed by LaGuardia at 87 and JFK at 60. While all airports in New York and New Jersey remained open Thursday, the Port Authority said “travelers are urged to contact their airlines before coming to the airport to learn about potential delays and cancelations.”

Boston Logan, Philadelphia and Washington Reagan National each had over a dozen cancelations as well Thursday morning. American Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines suspended most operations through Thursday morning and waived change fees for those affected. Service was expected to return to normal by Thursday afternoon as the storm cleared.

The number of canceled flights Thursday was much better than the day before when white-out conditions forced airlines to cancel as many as 1,700 flights in and out of the Northeast.

The unseasonably early winter weather came just as airlines finally got back on track after Sandy forced nearly 20,000 cancelations through last Friday. Industry analysts put Sandy’s cost to the airline industry at about $300 million.