Winter weather up north cancels 18 flights at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport

MANATEE -- A massive winter storm that socked much of the Northeast U.S. with over 2 feet of snow led to the cancellation of 18 flights out of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport over the weekend.

The weather affected flights to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte N.C., operated by JetBlue, United, Delta and American. Fredrick "Rick" Piccolo, the airport's CEO, said those flights will not be replaced. Travelers booked for those flights are either being booked in available seats on other flights or are cancelling their trips.

The snow and wind that came in with the weekend storm closed airports, including those in Washington, D.C., for much of the weekend.

"This is going to happen," he said. "It's winter."

The number of flights cancelled between Friday and early Monday morning represented about a third of all departures and arrivals. Sixty-one flights had been scheduled at SRQ over that time period.

Friday brought the first cancellations due to the weather, five flights scheduled for Charlotte. The last cancellation came Monday morning when a 7 a.m. flight to the nation's capital was nixed.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7047 or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Winter weather up north cancels 18 flights at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport ."