Valley travelers could be impacted by Houston airport closures

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Houston Airports System will close all three of its airports beginning Monday at Midnight due to inclement weather in the area.

The closures of Bush Intercontinental, Hobby, and Ellington were announced in a press release Sunday, ahead of the storm. Closures of the airports in Houston will affect flights in the Rio Grande Valley.

If you've ever flown out of the RGV there's a good chance your first stop was in Houston, on the way to your final destination. Airports in the RGV act as spokes that connect to larger airports called hubs. Because of that system, aviation officials warned the closures could significantly impact local travelers.

“In the case of Houston, it’s going to be a big chunk, because many of our flights do go through Houston, either on Southwest to Hobby or on United to Intercontinental. So we do have, I would say 25, 30 percent of our flights go through Houston, connect and go to other places afterward,” said Nicolas Mirman, Commercial Director for Valley International Airport in Harlingen.

On Monday, late arrivals from Houston airports scheduled to land at VIA were preemptively canceled. Early departures scheduled to take off from Harlingen on their way to Houston Tuesday morning had also been canceled by Monday afternoon.

Mirman estimated those cancellations alone would affect nearly 700 travelers at VIA, and a similar number leaving McAllen International Airport. “The good thing is that we’re after the peak of the holiday traveling season," Mirman said, "So January tends to be a low season, other than Winter Texans coming to the Valley. Those flights are packed.”

Mirman said that, ironically, flights from places like Minnesota were having no trouble getting through, because those areas are better equipped to handle wintry weather.

Travelers who have delayed or canceled flights can check with the airline they're flying with to change their itineraries or perhaps get a refund. “They allow them to make changes in our travel plans, and when that happens, it opens up a lot of seats on future flights," Mirman said.

He added that because this is the slow time of year for air travel, it should be easier for passengers to find seating on other flights, without experiencing too much of a delay.

Mirman encouraged flyers to be proactive, especially when airports in Texas and across the country are dealing with inclement weather, saying, “Keep an eye on the status of the flight on the airline website, on our airport website, and also on your app.”

There's no word yet indicating when the Houston airports will reopen. But Houston officials said crews would be on-site working on returning to normal operations when the weather permits.