Flights Resume at NYC Airports After Snowstorm

New York's airports dug out from under nearly a foot of snow and allowed some flights to land Saturday morning.

The first inbound passenger flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport landed at 9:30 a.m., according to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which operates the region's three major airports.

Airports in the Northeast shut down Friday afternoon as a snowstorm of potentially historic proportions blew in. The storm brought more than 2 feet of snow in some parts of New England and left more than 650,000 homes and businesses without power.

Airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance. They want to avoid having crews and planes stuck in one area of the country. They also face fines for leaving passengers stuck on a plane for more than three hours under a rule that went into effect in 2010.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware said airlines have canceled 5,368 flights because of the storm. Airlines have waived the usual fees to change tickets for flights in the affected areas.

Hardest hit was United Airlines. It has cancelled 710 Friday, Saturday and Sunday flights, according to FlightAware.

The storm disrupted thousands of travelers.

Denny Lindersson, a tourist from Sweden, was making his way across New York City with his family on Saturday morning after spending the night at a hotel close to Kennedy Airport. Their Saturday morning flight to the Cayman Islands was cancelled. JetBlue Airways re-booked them for a Monday flight, but rather than waiting for that, the Linderssons bought new tickets on a flight from Newark Airport in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.

"JetBlue didn't pay for anything," he grumbled, also noting that Sweden's biggest airport would not have shut down because of 11 inches of snow.

Several professional and college sports teams were stranded by the storm. The New York Knicks were stuck in Minnesota after playing the Timberwolves on Friday night. The San Antonio Spurs were staying overnight in Detroit, awaiting word on when they might be able to fly to New York for their game Sunday night with the Brooklyn Nets.