More than 500 flights at Denver International Airport are delayed and 22 have been canceled as a blizzard hits eastern Colorado.

Departing airport traffic is experiencing gate holds and taxi delays lasting about 15 minutes or less, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and arriving flights are experiencing airborne delays of about 15 minutes as well.

The airport was under a brief ground stop early Tuesday morning just before 7 a.m., an airport spokesperson said in an email, but the ground stop was lifted minutes later.

Airport officials had expected Tuesday to be one of the busiest travel days of the Christmas season, which would bring an anticipated 600,000 passengers through Denver.

There are 506 delayed flights as of 3 p.m., according to flight tracking website FlightAware. The number of delays has been steadily increasing throughout the day Tuesday.

RELATED: Blizzard conditions continue on the northeast plains as snow falls on Denver metro

Of the cancellations, 18 are through regional airline SkyWest, United Airlines has three canceled flights and Southwest Airlines has one.

The majority of the delays are through two major airlines: Southwest has 178 delayed flights in Denver and United has 163 delayed flights, both nearly 30% of each airline’s Denver traffic. SkyWest has 87 delayed flights.

Nearly twice as many departing flights are delayed compared to arriving flights.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY: I-70, most northeast highways closed as blizzard worsens Tuesday

Forecasters at the National Weather Service expect the blizzard conditions on the northeast plains to continue into Tuesday night, and the Denver metro area could see up to three inches of snow through the morning. There are several road closures in place, particularly in the northeast part of the state.

This is a developing story and will be updated.