As Europe emerges from its winter snow chaos so America succumbs, with thousands of flights cancelled across the country over the past 24-hours.

Upward of 10,000 departures have been affected, with 6,500 flights grounded on Tuesday — approximately 20 per cent of all commercial aviation in the US — with a further 3,600 protectively cancelled, FlightAware confirmed.

A further 800 flights had been cancelled on Monday during the onset of the storms.

Airports in the Midwest and East of the country have seen the heaviest impact.

Dallas-Fort Worth Airport was among the hardest hit, with the hub forced to briefly close. Delays of over three hours were also reported once the location reopened.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport alone saw 1,300 cancellations, with blizzard conditions continuing throughout the day.

“In addition, most of the airlines at O’Hare have indicated they will have limited or no flight operations on Wednesday,” added a statement.

“Some airlines expect to resume operations tomorrow afternoon at Midway, with the majority of flights expected to resume in the evening.”

Midway – the secondary airport in the city – also saw a further 350 flights cancelled.

Houston, New York and Boston “and everything in between” had also been hit according to FlightAware.

Analysts are already predicting costs to run into the tens of millions of dollars, just as American aviation appeared to be finding its footing again following two years of economic turmoil.