US: After nearly 13,000 Harvey cancellations, Irma is new threat to airline flights

Another hurricane threat has emerged for airlines this week with Irma threatening to snarl US flight schedules. That comes just as the industry was trying to get back on track in Texas following Hurricane Harvey. For Irma, airlines had already begun waiving change fees to several Caribbean destinations with the storm – just upgraded to a category 5 hurricane Tuesday morning – taking aim at the region. Several airlines added certain Florida airports to their waivers by Tuesday afternoon, and the coverage areas for the rebooking policies could keep expanding as Irma tracked toward the US mainland. Flights to and from many Caribbean islands were already cancelled, or were going to be. For Wednesday, about 85 flights – or more than 40% of the day’s schedule – had been grounded at San Juan’s airport in Puerto Rico. <br/>