Florida Airports Resume Flights as Ian Moves North, Fort Myers Airport Works to Reopen by October 7

American Airlines aircraft at its Miami hub

A revived Hurricane Ian lashed out at South Carolina and continued to North Carolina and Virginia, leaving flooded streets and destroyed piers in its wake, as well as one airport without power.

Ian is now a post-tropical cyclone and left 60,000 people in South Carolina without power, largely due to downed trees.

Power is also out for over 300,000 customers in North Carolina and for 100,000 in Virginia as of Saturday morning.

The storm is having significantly less of an effect on air travel Saturday although road conditions remain treacherous for those traveling by automobile.

Southwest Florida International Airport ,which serves the Southwest Florida region including the Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, Marco Island, and Punta Gorda metropolitan areas and is the second-busiest single-runway airport in the United States after San Diego International, remains closed to all air traffic due to the devastation in the region and a city-wide power outage.  The airport itself won’t reopen until October 7.

“The Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) was closed as of Sep 27 at 09:55 PM EDT,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center “The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Oct 07 at 12:00 PM EDT.”

The airport announced that people could retrieve cars parked in their long- and short-term parking lots starting on Friday, and said it would try to reopen earlier than October 7 if possible.

“Like everyone in Southwest Florida, we are going day-by-day,” an airport official told the media.  “We cannot speak on behalf of the airlines; but, like us, they want to start flying as soon as possible.”

The airport serves over 20 airlines with dozens of destinations.  Major carriers at the aerodrome include American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)