After assessing the damage to its facilities following Hurricane Nicole as minimal, Orlando International Airport (MCO) officially reopened for commercial operations at 8:00 PM yesterday (Thursday 11).
Initially, only domestic arrivals were handled, but the rest of the flights are expected to normalize during this Friday. At the time of this publication, a substantial portion of the international arrivals (mostly from Latin America and the Caribbean) scheduled for today are still listed as cancelled, such as Copa flight CM446 from Panama, Spirit flight NK3613 from Cancun and JetBlue flight B622 from Montego Bay.
«It is a complex process to cease and resume operations at an airport. Our facilities are ready but many of our stakeholders and their staffs are not. The storm was forecasted to last much longer than it did, so recalling employees for concessions, rental cars and support positions has been challenging,» said Kevin Thibault, CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
The first flight to land was a Fedex freighter from Memphis, while the first commercial passenger flight arrival was Southwest’s WN1363 from Islip, NY, at 8:17 PM.
Officials reported that 1,484 flights were canceled during the two days Orlando International Airport was closed.
Sanford International Airport, which also serves the Orlando area, reopened for commercial flights this morning, with the first arrival expected to be Allegiant flight G4186 from Allentown, PA.
