Bracing for Grayson: Airlines canceling Myrtle Beach flights

All flights at Myrtle Beach International Airport were canceled Wednesday in anticipation of a snow and ice storm predicted to blanket the Atlantic coast.

The airport will remain open in spite of bad weather, said Kirk Lovell, director of air service and business development.

However, of 40 departures and arrivals scheduled for Wednesday, “numerous flights have already been canceled this morning and through the evening,” Lovell said early Wednesday.

By late morning, all flights had been canceled.

The cancellation of flights is determined by individual airlines, and most have done a good job informing passengers of weather delays on company websites, Lovell said.

He advised checking airline websites to determine flight status before calling an airline’s 800 number or showing up at the airport on Wednesday and Thursday.

Spirit, for example, lists Myrtle Beach first under their travel advisory and explains their fare waiver.

“There are some people here, but it’s not packed,” Lovell said of the airport check-in area Wednesday morning.

The storm is slowly moving up the east coast from Florida Wednesday all the way through the Carolina’s by Thursday. It appears airlines are prepositioning their planes to pick up as scheduled by Thursday.

“The airlines have to look at the strategic positioning of their aircraft so when the storm passes they can begin operations again,” Lovell said.

“If the storm is gone tomorrow, they will try to pick up operations tomorrow at X time as if nothing happened. So if the planes are stuck somewhere else they can’t do it, so they’re canceling flights and holding planes in other markets in preparation for the all clear tomorrow,” Lovell said.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Bracing for Grayson: Airlines canceling Myrtle Beach flights."