Thousands of US passengers stranded by ice-storm.

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An ice storm in the US stranded thousands of passengers on 25 December with Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana particularly affected by heavy snowfalls.

Little Rock National Airport was shut down by the

icy conditions on Monday evening stranding many late arriving passengers, including those on an American Airlines flight that had been diverted there due to an emergency on board. Other airports closed included Oklahoma City Airport and Shreveport in Louisiana. Flights were also delayed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

American Airlines reportedly cancelled 738 flights, or about 60% of its capacity at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport due to the icy conditions and was expecting to have to cancel more. Delta Air Lines stated that it had cancelled a 'significant number' of flights.

Meanwhile, Northwest Airlines had to cancel 50 flights operating to or from Memphis and indicated that it only expected to operate about 50% of its Memphis schedule through Tuesday (26 December).

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