REUTERS/Octavio Jones
- Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.
- As of Wednesday afternoon, over 1,800 flights had been canceled in Florida, per FlightAware data.
- Ten airports in the state have closed due to the impending storm.
Over 1,800 flights in Florida on Wednesday have been canceled as Hurricane Milton approaches the Sunshine State, according to data from the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
Milton dropped to a Category 4 storm early Wednesday — the second-most severe classification — and is expected to make landfall on Wednesday night. The National Hurricane Center estimated potentially devastating peak storm surges as high as 15 feet in the Tampa Bay area.
Data from Cirium around 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday showed about 93% of flights were canceled at Orlando International Airport, Tampa International Airport, St Pete-Clearwater International Airport, and Southwest Florida International Airport. All flights were canceled at Sarasota Bradenton and Orlando Stanford, the city’s secondary airport.
Those airports, as well as Punta Gorda, Daytona Beach, Melbourne-Orlando, and Lakeland Linder, have all announced closures. All except Orlando and Lakeland are located in counties with mandatory evacuation orders.
The worst-affected airport is Orlando International with more than 800 cancelations to and from the airport on Wednesday, per FlightAware. More than 700 flights have already been canceled for Thursday.
The airport said it would halt commercial operations on Wednesday morning but remain open for emergency, aid, and relief flights. Jet bridges were tied down in preparation for the storm.
Several public airports are also closing down, including Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive, and Plant City.
Miami International Airport said it would remain open but was monitoring the situation and encouraged travelers to confirm their flight status with their airlines. Cirium data shows Miami has only canceled about 7% of flights on Wednesday.
American Airlines added several flights to help people evacuate on Monday and Tuesday. That included 11 flights from Tampa International and one from Sarasota-Bradenton, totaling about 2,000 seats. Passengers could check two bags at no cost.
American and other airlines issued travel alerts for several Florida airports and waived change fees, while some also waived cancellation charges.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said its Joint Crisis Action Team will handle Hurricane Milton centrally from its command center, “so there is a strong coordinated communication and planning effort.”
At airports, radars are shut down to protect antennae and their motors from wind damage, while air traffic controllers are evacuated from towers to seek shelter in a lower level of the building.
“The FAA has personnel on the ground to make sure damaged equipment and services are restored quickly to aid in a rapid response to hard-hit areas,” the spokesperson said. “Relief and restoration routes are opened to assist after the storm passes.”
The disruption comes two weeks after Hurricane Helene also led to over 1,000 flights being canceled as it hit the Southeastern US.