Houston airports closed; major impact on United, Southwest operations

Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) are closed because of severe flooding in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, significantly affecting United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. More than 5,000 flight cancellations in the US are estimated as a result of the hurricane so far.

All scheduled flights to/from the two Houston airports were suspended at 12 p.m. local time Aug. 27. According to Airlines for America (A4A), HOU will remain closed until 8 a.m. Aug. 30 and IAH will remain closed until 12 p.m. Aug. 31. Chicago-based United has a major hub at IAH, while HOU is a key airport in Dallas-based Southwest’s network.

Southwest said all of its flights at HOU are canceled at least through Aug. 29. The Houston Airport System, which operates both airports, said “flooding” had necessitated the closing of both inbound and outbound roads to/from IAH. It added that “all roads leading into” HOU have been closed because of “high water.”

Flights are “stopped until further notice,” IAH stated on its Twitter feed. “We are doing everything we can to resume operations once it’s safe to do so.”

United (over 58%) and Southwest (over 22%) have a more than 80% market share combined at the two Houston airports, according the Houston Airport System. United has more than 4,000 weekly departures from IAH; Southwest has nearly 900 weekly departures from HOU.

Southwest confirmed to ATW that it flew 486 passengers stranded at HOU to Dallas on Aug. 27 on five flights specially approved by FAA. "A large portion of those [passengers] had Dallas as their final destination and we put the other [passengers] in a hotel overnight and are working to accommodate them to their final destination out of [Dallas] Love Field today," a Southwest spokesperson said. "We currently have 10 aircraft on the ground at Hobby and we are actively working to secure flight crews to transport those aircraft to other Southwest airports."

United said it has waived the change fee and any difference in fare for flights to/from IAH and a number of other Texas airports for flights scheduled between Aug. 25 and Sept. 13, 2017. Other airlines serving Houston have followed suit (Southwest does not charge change fees).

IAH handled 41.4 million passengers in the Houston Airport System’s most recent fiscal year ended June 30, 2017. HOU handed 13.3 million passengers during the fiscal year.

Southwest financed a $156 million HOU international concourse that opened in 2015.