HOUSTON – The City of Houston is preparing for the potential impacts of an incoming winter storm, which has prompted the decision to close its airports.

First announced during a press conference held by Houston Mayor John Whitmire Sunday evening, the closure will go into effect at Monday night at midnight, and last throughout the entire day Tuesday. The move is expected to cause significant disruptions, as explained by Jim Szczesniak, the director of aviation at the Houston Airport System.

“It’s going to be pretty epic for the disruptions that we’re going to see here. So, stay home is definitely warranted,” he said.

Houston Airport System released the following statement:

“Travel can be challenging during winter storms, and for everyone’s safety and well-being, we must emphasize that Houston’s airports are unable to accommodate overnight stays. Flights are able to operate through this evening as determined by each airline. On Tuesday, there will be no flight operations, and access to Houston’s airports will be limited due to anticipated roadway safety issues around the city.

Our resources are limited and will be fully dedicated to our team members working tirelessly to restore operations as soon as it’s safe to do so. Staying at the airport during this time would not be safe or comfortable for passengers and would impede our ability to resume normal operations. However, there are over a dozen nearby hotels that offer shuttle services, providing secure and restful options for travelers.

We urge all travelers to contact their respective airlines for rebooking/rerouting options and assistance with finding suitable accommodations.”

OUR FIRST COVERAGE: Bush, Hobby airports to be closed Tuesday, Mayor Whitmire confirms

Houston’s airport system, one of the largest in the world, handles nearly 2 million passengers monthly. The storm’s impact could be substantial, with Szczesniak noting, “On a typical day at this time of the year, we’re probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about 450 flights to 500 flights. So significant cancellations.”

Szczesniak estimated that over 100,000 passengers could be affected by the airport closures on Tuesday. Passengers have options to leave early, later, or reschedule altogether.

“The thing that passengers really need to understand is that the airlines, a lot of them have implemented the travel waivers. So, you can call your airlines and maybe you can get out tomorrow or you can change your flights to another day because of the fact that that storm is there,” Szczesniak advised.

Despite the inconvenience, airport staff believe that proactively closing the airports is the best choice to prevent chaos in the terminals.

“Because of the fact that we’re proactively closing, it’s going to help us give a better situation so that we don’t have any people left at the airport. So, we’ve been working with the airlines to make sure that the last flights out take the passengers. And we don’t have anybody that’s remaining at the airport.”

While major power outages are not expected, the possibility of reopening the airports on Wednesday depends on the storm’s intensity.

summer travel season is finally here. And while most of us are ready to get away, it’s easier said than done, especially right now as airlines across the US are once again canceling flights right and left. According to data from flight aware, 1500 flights were just canceled heading into the weekend. So what gives apparently airlines are still having difficulty with staffing issues, Market Watch reports. The pilot unions have said, Delta American and Southwest Airlines have been dragging their feet with replacing pilots who have stopped flying, many of which took *** leave of absence or retired entirely due to the pandemic. And Transportation Secretary Pete Buddha Judge is now getting involved recently holding *** meeting with many airlines CEO. S during which someone close to the meeting told Market Watch he was firm with those airlines asking them to not only examine their flight schedules and pushing them to maintain them, but he also reportedly pressed them to improve customer service as stranded travelers are no doubt upset about the situation. So which airports have the worst cancelations at New york’s Laguardia Airport? More than *** third of all flights were straight up canceled this weekend and at New Jersey’s Newark Airport, which also services new Yorkers. Over *** quarter of their flights were also scrapped

Advertisement The most popular air travel day this year was a mess. That won’t change anytime soon Editorial Standards ⓘ

Americans gained a new federal holiday last year: Juneteenth. This year the holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, falls on Sunday but it will be observed in many places on Monday, June 20.Given that this long summer weekend also coincides with Father’s Day, that means there will be a lot of travel going on.The Friday before Juneteenth clocked in as the most popular air travel day of 2022, according to statistics from the Transportation Security Administration. Airports haven’t been that crowded since Thanksgiving 2021. TSA officers said they screened about 2,438,784 people at airport security checkpoints nationwide on Friday, the highest checkpoint volume since November 28, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That also was about 100,000 more travelers than the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.”Welcome to the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend of travel!” wrote TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein on Twitter.While Juneteenth became an official holiday last year, this is the first year that the US stock market and banks will close in its honor. The surge in numbers couldn’t have come at a worse time for U.S. airlines. A combination of rough weather, staff shortages and infrastructure challenges have left major carriers struggling to keep up with the surge in travel. Nearly 9,000 flights were delayed within the U.S. Friday and another 1,500 flights were canceled according to the data group FlightAware.There were more than 850 flight cancellations Saturday, per FlightAware. By early Sunday morning there were already more than 600 flights canceled for the day.The increase in delays and cancellations comes just one day after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with airline CEOs to discuss ways to improve performance and operations ahead of another expected surge in travel over the 4th of July holiday.About 2,700 flights were canceled over Memorial Day weekend. Major airlines already are preemptively canceling more flights just as the busy summer season heats up. Southwest Airlines has cut nearly 20,000 flights between June and Labor Day and is struggling to hire the 10,000 new workers it says it needs to meet demand. “I go through the Whataburger drive-thru and I pay and get my bag, and stapled to the bag is a job application,” Southwest CEO Robert Jordan joked to the Dallas Morning News last year about the difficulty in finding job applicants. “That’s what it’s come to.”Delta said it will cancel 100 daily flights in the U.S. and Latin America from July 1 to August 7. In an open letter to customers, Delta pilots wrote that the labor shortage has put them on pace to fly more overtime hours this year than in all of 2018 and 2019 combined.”The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said during the airline’s quarterly earnings call in April.Unions representing pilots at Delta, American and Southwest say that airlines got themselves into the current situation by refusing to replace pilots who retired and took leaves of absence during the height of the pandemic when air travel plummeted.About 8,000 new commercial pilots have received certificates in the last year, according to pilot unions, and they say there shouldn’t be a shortage. The current service cut narrative, they claim, is being used by companies to justify a cut to training and safety requirements that will boost profit margins.Some US senators are taking note. “While some flight cancellations are unavoidable, the sheer number of delays and cancellations this past weekend raises questions about airline decision-making,” wrote Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey in a letter to Buttigieg earlier this month.