Airlines will try to fly from RDU on Saturday, as Florence churns to the south

This story was updated at 7:20 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14.

Airlines that canceled flights at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Friday because of Hurricane Florence say they are going to resume operations on Saturday.

As of Friday evening, airlines had canceled about 71 of the 400 scheduled arrivals and departures at RDU on Saturday, and the airport warned that further cancellations were possible. It urged travelers to check with their carriers about specific flights.

But airlines that scrubbed most or all of their flights on Friday said they planned to fly on Saturday.

Southwest Airlines, which canceled all its flights in and out of RDU on Thursday and Friday because of the storm, says its ticket counter in Terminal 1 will reopen at 11 a.m. Saturday, with flights resuming early in the afternoon. The Transportation Security Administration checkpoint in the terminal will open at 7 a.m.

In Terminal 2, where the other eight airlines operate, the TSA checkpoint will open as normal at 4 a.m. As of Friday evening, these were the plans for the airlines:

▪ Air Canada: Ticket counter opens at 7:30 a.m., with flights beginning mid-morning.

▪ American: Ticket counter opens at 3:30 a.m. as normal, with scattered cancellations throughout the day.

▪ Delta: Ticket counter opens at 3:30 a.m. as normal, with a “near-normal schedule” planned.

▪ Frontier: Ticket counter opens at 3:30 p.m., with flights beginning late afternoon.

▪ JetBlue: Ticket counter opens at 6:15 a.m., with scattered cancellations throughout the day.

▪ United: Ticket counter opens at 3:30 a.m. as normal, with flights beginning mid-morning.

▪ Alaska Airlines: Ticket counter will open at 2:15 p.m.

Forecasters expect the northern edge of Tropical Storm Florence will continue to bring rain and gusty winds to the Triangle throughout the day Saturday.

Most airlines at RDU announced earlier in the week that they would waive change fees for flights scheduled late this week and weekend.

Links to airline websites and to RDU’s flight status page can be found at www.rdu.com/weather/.

This story was originally published September 12, 2018 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Airlines will try to fly from RDU on Saturday, as Florence churns to the south."