Earthquakes and floods in Central and South America, heavy snow showers in much of the Midwest and Northeast U.S., the threat of Tsunamis in the Pacific and strong winds in France are just a few of the acts of nature stranding passengers and causing massive flight cancellations around the world.

Santiago, Chile’s Arturo Merino Benitez Airport (SCL) is closed again today after an earthquake of 8.8 magnitude struck the country at 3:34 a.m. Feb. 27, which resulted in broken windows in the passenger terminal, as well as extensive damage to ceilings and walkways.

There was no official word as of this morning from the airport or Chile’s Civil Aviation Authority as to the condition of the runways. However, Air France is reporting that the airport will be closed “until March 1.” The airline also reports that due to strong winds in Paris, flight operations are heavily disrupted and many are cancelled for today.

Santiago-based LAN, as well as other airlines that serve Chile, such as Aeromexico, American, COPA, GOL, Avianca, TACA, TAM and Iberia, cancelled all flights to Chile, and in many cases were forced to divert flights to other airports in Central and South America.

LAN was forced to redirect 17 flights from both national and international cities of origin. “Flight operations will continue as scheduled to all of LAN Airlines and its affiliates’ South America network and destinations outside of Chile,” LAN said in a statement. It is providing hotel accommodations and assistance to passengers that were en route to Santiago.

Many U.S. airlines have issued travel policy changes due to the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, winter storms in the Northeast, and the closure of airports in Hawaii due to threats of Tsunamis (which now have abated),

For Chile, American Airlines is allowing anyone ticketed up to March 5 to change their plans without penalty.

American also is allowing passengers scheduled to fly to four Hawaiian airports to rebook due to disruptions caused by the Tsunami threat. Although there is nothing posted on Hilo International Airport’s Web site or the Hawaiian Transportation Dept., the Miami Herald reports today that Hilo Airport is closed. The Hawaiian Advertiser also reports today that the state DOT closed the road leading to Kahului Airport on Maui because it sits in a low-lying area, and Hilo Airport on the Big Island was closed.

A flood earlier this month in Machu Picchu, Peru, prompted Delta to allow travelers to rebook or cancel their flights until today, to be rescheduled for travel as late as March 25.

And finally, U.S. airlines will incur hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs from the snow storm that hit the busy Northeast corridor on Thursday, canceling hundreds of flights at busy airports, especially the three in New York, as well as Philadelphia.

Adding to the strain on the system will be Monday’s closure of Runway 13-31 at New York Kennedy Airport, which is being widened over the next four months.

Meanwhile, airlines that serve popular cruise destinations may see further travel disruptions as major cruise lines on Saturday and today changed their schedules and ports of call until the threat of Tsunamis lifted, in some cases sitting in the Pacific Ocean for longer than intended. The Port of Honolulu was closed for a period yesterday until the threat lifted.

Santiago, Chile file photo credit: Peanno via Wikipedia