Harvey Halts Houston Flights Indefinitely, Southwest Evacuates Stranded Flyers

When floodwaters surrounded Hobby Airport, causing its closure, Southwest Airlines received special permission to operate flights to shuttle stranded passengers to nearby Love Field.

Both of Houston’s major airports were ordered closed as the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey continues to mount. As of Sunday morning, authorities had announced that George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) would be closed until further notice. Parts of William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) remain underwater and officials have not put a timetable on resuming normal operations there.

Operations are still stopped until further notice. We are doing everything we can to resume operations once it's safe to do so.

— Houston Bush Airport (@iah) August 28, 2017

“Operations are still stopped until further notice,” IAH management reported as of Monday morning. “We are doing everything we can to resume operations once it’s safe to do so.”

IAH ranks as one of United Airlines’ busiest hub airports and handles an oversized number of the carrier’s Latin American flights. Delays and cancelations leading up to the closure are being felt through the legacy carrier’s route system. According to The Houston Chronicle, even before the airport closed, United suspended flights from IAH to all destinations but its other major hub airports including San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

Southwest Airlines has by far the largest presence of any airline at HOU. CNN has reported that because the roads to and from the airport were also closed for much of the day on Sunday, the airline was given special permission to airlift stranded passengers to its Dallas Love Field (DAL) base.

Airfield is closed due to standing water on runways. No inbound/outbound flights. Please check flight status before coming to HOU #HOUWX

— Hobby Airport (@HobbyAirport) August 27, 2017

“Airfield is closed due to standing water on runways,” Hobby Airport said in a Twitter statement on Sunday. “No inbound/outbound flights. Please check flight status before coming to HOU.”

Meanwhile, Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP) reopened Monday morning after being closed on Sunday due to Harvey. Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), which was expected to be hard-hit by the storm, remained open as of Monday, but many flights to and from the airport were canceled in advance of the hurricane.

Prior to the Harvey-related closures and cancellations, airlines waived change fees for flights passing though any airports that were expected to be impacted when the Category Four storm made landfall on the Gulf coast this weekend.

USA Today puts the number of flights canceled across the region due to Hurricane Harvey at more than 5000 as of Monday Morning. With forecasters’ prediction that the powerful system will stall and continue to dump historic rainfall totals on the battered areas, a return to normal operations will be slow-going.

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