Snow and ice storm cost Alaska Airlines $3.5 million

Last weeks's snow and ice storm cost Sea-Tac Airport's biggest airline some $3.5 million, Alaska Airlines officials said in a fourth-quarter earnings call today. Those costs were split between fares that were refunded because flights were cancelled and extra costs of coping with the ice. The airline cancelled 33 percent of its flights late last week as ice coated planes and runways in the Pacific Northwest. A snow storm was followed by freezing rain which coated aircraft at Sea-Tac with a thick layer of ice which had to be removed before planes could depart. Some 45,000 Alaska passengers were inconvenienced … Read more »