As tropical storm Harvey continues to pound parts of Texas, nearly 3,000 flights have been canceled across the nation.
More than one thousand flights were canceled on Friday and Saturday, many of them as preventative measures before Harvey hit land on Friday evening and travelers are being warned to not expect operations to get back to normal until at least Tuesday
An additional 1,115 flights have already been canceled for Sunday, according to USA Today, as have another 360 for Monday. All told, some 2,700 flights have been canceled due to Harvey, the worst storm to hit U.S. soil since 2004 when Hurricane Charley hit Florida.
At Houston's George Bush International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines, some 66 percent of flights had been canceled for Saturday, according to the FlightAware tracker. Sunday projections estimate 70 percent of flights have already been canceled. By Saturday, United had halted all of its regional United Express flights as well as many of its domestic flights. Priority operations were given to flights connecting to international connections.Houston is a major hub for flights to Mexico and Latin America.
"We plan to continue operating flights from Houston to our hubs and most international destinations," said Charles Hobart a spokesperson for United in a statement to Bloomberg News.
At William P. Hobby Airport, a hub for Southwest, some 40 percent of flights have been canceled. In Corpus Christi, which is located very near to where the hurricane first made landfall, all flights have been canceled. The airport is reporting minimal damage, via Twitter, and also earlier tweeted that it was switching to generator power.
"Terminal and airfield operations remain closed to normal traffic," read one tweet.
Other airports in Texas, as well as some across the United States, have also seen delays and cancellations as a result of the slowdown of operations at the above-mentioned airports.
Passengers ticketed to fly into the region in the next several days are encouraged to check with their airline to confirm routes and schedules. Airlines are also waiving change fees for passengers who wish to rebook travel to the affected region.
Meanwhile, some 20,000 cruise ship passengers have been stranded on four cruise ships that can't dock in the Port of Galveston, which remains closed to all vessel traffic. Two Carnival Cruise Line vessels, the Freedom and the Valor made a stop in New Orleans on Saturday to pick up extra supplies for the extended trip and to allow passengers to disembark and return to Galveston on their own if they so choose. Carnival, however, is recommending passengers remain on board and wait out the storm.
Affected cruise ships are also modifying their schedules for their subsequent sailings and passengers can either take a shortened cruise and receive a pro-rated discount or they can cancel their cruise with no penalty and receive a credit for a future sailing.
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