Over 2,700 Flights Cancelled as Hurricane Matthew Nears

Flight cancellations have begun to pile up as Hurricane Matthew continues its track toward the U.S coastline.

As of 7:45 a.m. ET on Thursday, airlines had canceled nearly 2,700 flights -- many preemptively -- through Friday in anticipation of the storm, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.

That total could grow even further depending on the storm's path.

Already, several Florida airports have warned of reduced flight schedules. In Fort Lauderdale, all flight operations ceased at 10:30 a.m. ET, officials there said. At Miami, some flights were expected to operate up to noon ET, though airport officials there said nearly 90% of the day's schedule had been canceled. In Orlando, the region's smaller Orlando Sanford airport halted flights at 10 a.m. ET and the much busier Orlando International announced it would do the same at 8 p.m. ET. The larger Orlando airport already had 185 flights canceled by 10:30 a.m.

“Safety is always airlines’ first priority, and to protect both passengers and employees, airlines began moving crew and aircraft out of the way of the storm and pre-emptively canceling flights on Wednesday,” said Billy Nolen, vice president for operations at the industry group Airlines for America. “Doing so helps ensure that neither passengers nor crew are stranded and enables airlines to recover and accommodate customers as soon as possible when it is safe to do so.”

Among the 1,400 cancellations already in for Thursday, Miami (about 640) and Fort Lauderdale (about 450) accounted for the most. Orlando also had a significant cancellation tally, with about 220 Thursday flights canceled there, according to FlightAware.

The flight cancellations are spilling into Friday, too. Nearly 1,100 of Friday's flights had already been canceled as of 7:45 a.m. ET on Thursday morning. Orlando International is the hardest-hit for Friday, with nearly 550 preemptive cancellations -- or about 75% of its daily schedule, according to FlightAware.

"We expect the number of flight cancellations for (Thursday) and Friday to rise depending on how much Florida is impacted by the storm," Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware, said late Thursday.

American Airlines, which operates one of its busiest hubs at Miami International, has suspended all of its arrivals there on Thursday. It says there will be "limited" departures there up to noon ET, but that all flights will be halted after that.

Based on current forecasts, American says it to hoped resume Miami operations at 8 a.m. on Friday with normal operations "anticipated" by noon ET.

At the Fort Lauderdale – where JetBlue, Spirit and Southwest are among the busiest airlines – airport officials said flights would be suspended on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Source: USA Today