US: Fourth northeast storm in March snarls air traffic

Airlines cancelled thousands of flights in the US northeast Wednesday as a swirl of strong winds, snow, sleet and ice from the fourth major storm this month crippled the region. Airlines scrapped more than 4,400 flights within, to or from the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware, and more than 3,000 other US flights were delayed as the latest "nor'easter" dumped snow and ice on New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. The cancellations piled on to thousands more canceled flights due to an unrelenting series of late-winter storms. In addition to creating headaches for passengers, these storms can rack up millions of dollars in costs for airlines, as carriers reallocate aircraft and crew, and swallow the cost of passengers who don't re-book travel. "This has been a much harsher late winter than we've seen for quite some time. It does have an impact on carriers' bottom lines," CFRA Research analyst Jim Corridore said.<br/>