Dozens of cancellations at Mitchell International Airport

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport says there were about 40 flights cancelled on Monday, February 17th because of the inclement weather.

Most of the cancelled flights were by Southwest Airlines -- which airport officials said tends to proactively cancel flights so people can re-book from home and not drive through the inclement weather.

Just about every flight to and from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was cancelled due to the poor conditions at both airports.

Officials say crews at Mitchell did a "great job" of clearing runways -- which are two miles long and 200 feet wide. The goal of those crews -- clear an entire runway in less than 20 minutes.

Bobby Noel works with Royal Shine Two -- and on this day, the shoe polish stayed in the can.

"When the business travelers come in, you've got snow on your boots or whatever, it's usually a big boon to our business, but if it's like cancellations and bad weather, it doesn't help our business at all, actually. We need the customers to come in - do your shoes. Gotta look neat. Gotta look good for Milwaukee," Noel said.

Meanwhile, travelers were left re-booking flights and finding ways to pass the time.

"We came from Green Bay to drop off her friend. She was here this weekend for her bridal shower actually and we were about halfway here and we found the flight was cancelled and we were like 'we'll keep going and just come and talk in-person so she can re-schedule her flight,'" Olesya Pidkalyuk and Irina Guba said.

Those who have flights scheduled for Monday are strongly encouraged to visit MitchellAirport.com or reach out to their individual airlines to determine whether flights are still on schedule or cancelled.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.