Airlines in the United States canceled more than 1,300 flights and delayed over 1,000 flights on Monday as Hurricane Beryl intensified and made landfall in Texas.
A total of 1,479 flights were canceled and 2,254 flights were delayed as of 12.33 p.m. ET, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
United Airlines led the list with 405 flights canceled, followed by Southwest Airlines at 268.
“We are continuing to monitor Beryl and have reduced flying at Intercontinental Airport of Houston (IAH) Sunday night and Monday.” United Airlines said in a statement.
Southwest said it was monitoring the situation and has proactively adjusted its flight schedule on Monday in Houston and south Texas due to the hurricane.
“We’ve never seen numbers like this,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said. “2024’s travel seems to be what 2020 would have been, had it not been for the pandemic,” he added. U.S. summer travel will be closely watched from multiple fronts this year, as it could offer central bank officials and policymakers an important measure of consumer sentiment in an election year.
Both United and Southwest also issued travel advisories citing Hurricane Beryl impacting flights in airports including Austin, Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Houston among others in the region. Beryl, the season’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda in Texas early in the day, pounding the coast with dangerous storm surges, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Air Canada said it has canceled daily flights scheduled for Tuesday between Houston and Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The largest ports in Texas also closed operations and vessel traffic on Sunday after Beryl intensified.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday warned of thunderstorms impacting travel across the country.
