U.S. airlines take financial blow from snowstorm =20 =20 =20 =20 Tuesday February 18, 4:39 PM EST=20 By David Bailey CHICAGO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Major U.S. airlines, already reeling from huge financial losses in a historic downturn, were dealt another blow over the weekend by a major snowstorm in the northeast that disrupted travel throughout the system. Worst hit in percentage terms was low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways, which canceled all but one flight on Monday, while US Airways Group Inc. canceled more than 40 percent of its flights over a three day period. However, the impact from the deadly storm may be limited because it disrupted travelers returning from holiday weekends instead of prompting passengers to cancel trips or forcing high-paying business travelers from the skies, analysts said. The largest U.S. airlines reported net losses of more than $11 billion in 2002 as the travel downturn exacerbated by the Sept. 11 attacks helped push US Airways and United Airlines into bankruptcy court protection. =20 "It's a body blow, not a lethal blow," said Michael Boyd, an air industry consultant. "Airlines cannot afford to have a holiday weekend destroyed by a snowstorm on the East Coast." Canceled flights and other disruptions such as stranded flight crews and planes affected virtually every U.S. airline, some more than others, Boyd said, adding that the cost could be tens of millions of dollars. Jamie Baker, airline analyst at J.P. Morgan, said airlines routinely budget for storms and may suffer only minimally from the storm. The real question is how much budget do they have left for other storms, he said. "It did not severely disrupt business travel and it fell at the end of a travel period where most passengers were already in the system," Baker said. "It could have been worse under different circumstances." Flight cancellations peaked on Monday as a storm that caused as many as 28 deaths closed airports from Washington to New York. Most airlines reported some canceled flights on Tuesday and said they expected to resume regular schedules sometime on Wednesday. MORE WOES FOR US AIRWAYS Among the hardest hit was US Airways Group Inc. (UAWGQ), which plans to emerge soon from bankruptcy protection. Major US Airways hubs in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were socked by snow and a hub in Charlotte was struck by an ice storm on top of the airport closings in Washington, New York and Boston. More than 40 percent of US Airways scheduled mainline and shuttle service was canceled from Sunday through Tuesday, more than 1,500 flights over those three days, spokesman David Castelveter said. The storm will have a significant financial impact on US Airways, though it is too early to determine what that will be, Castelveter said. US Airways hopes to resume a normal schedule on Wednesday, he said. American Airlines, an AMR Corp. (AMR) unit, canceled more than one-quarter of its schedule on Monday, 627 flights of about 2,400, spokesman Todd Burke said. American hopes to start restoring the majority of service in the Northeast through midday on Tuesday, Burke said. United Airlines (UAL) canceled about 380 flights Monday and about 90 flights Tuesday morning out of more than 1,700 daily flights, spokesman Joe Hopkins said. United's schedule should be back to normal on Wednesday, he added. Low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), which has a large operation at New York's Kennedy International Airport, canceled all but one flight on Monday, spokeswoman Fiona Morrisson said. A full schedule is expected to run on Tuesday with some minor delays, Morrisson said. "The snowstorm hit on one of our busiest days, so it will take a couple days to get everyone back in place," she said. Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWAC) canceled about 525 flights from Saturday to midday Tuesday, peaking at 265 flight cancellations on Monday, spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert said. Northwest runs more than 1,500 flights daily and expects operations to be back to normal on Wednesday, Schubert said. On Tuesday, low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) reported some delays at its major Baltimore Washington International Airport location, spokeswoman Christine Turneabe-Connelly said. The storm aftermath forced Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) to cancel some 150 of about 2,100 daily flights on Tuesday, spokeswoman Peggy Estes said.=20 =A92003 Reuters Limited.=20