Hurricane Dorian has been deemed a “very serious storm” by bosses at Orlando Airpot, Florida, who have taken the decision to close the major USA transport terminal. The news, set to disrupt hundreds of flights, was announced on the airport’s Twitter account. In a statement bound to disappoint visitors to Florida for Labor Day itself, they announced the airport would be closing in the early hours of Monday, at 2am. This comes as Hurricane Dorian has strengthened overnight to a Category 4 storm, following FCO advice issued to Britons heading to America.
All 62 counties in Florida have been placed into a state of emergency, with residents and travellers warned to have hurricane action plans ready to go.
The Twitter statement read: “Orlando International Airport plans to cease commercial flight operations on Monday, September 2, 2019 at 2 a.m.
“We understand this will lead to the question on when operations may resume, so we’ll say this: This is a very serious storm.
“The decision to cease operations was one that was made collectively along with airport partners.
That said, we still need to wait and see what effect this storm will have on the airport itself.
“As we have been doing, we will release additional operational updates as soon as we have them. Thank you, everyone.”
Orlando Airport has become the first to close amid the freak weather, also affecting the Bahamas shortly before it arrives in the States.
Airline Thomas Cook quickly reacted to Orlando Airport’s scheduled closure, and updated its passengers with flight news.
It stated: “As a result of this closure, all Thomas Cook Airlines flights to or from Orlando airport on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September are not currently due to operate as scheduled, based upon the airport’s planned closure period.
“We will review flights scheduled for Wednesday 4th September and later in the week as the hurricane develops, and continue to provide further updates to our customers over the coming days.
“This continues to be a very fluid situation and the hurricane and its impact remain unpredictable.
