Hurricane Rita brought chaos and more uncertainty to the airline industry Thursday. Canceled flights and long lines at airports in Houston tied up travelers while the risk of even higher jet-fuel costs threatens the already-troubled airline industry.
United Airlines and Frontier Airlines canceled flights in and out of Houston effective Thursday evening, including those to and from Denver.
Continental, which has a hub in Houston and flies to Denver, said in a statement that it would fly a reduced schedule this morning and halt flights through Houston from noon today through Saturday. It expects to cancel 1,089 flights today and 828 Saturday.
But before flights stopped, those looking to get out of Houston loaded onto planes leaving the city. At Denver International Airport, evacuees from the Houston area were relieved to have escaped Hurricane Rita.
“We are so glad to get out of there,” said Laurie Hornbuckly, 30. She lives 30 miles north of Houston with her husband, John, 38, who said the evacuation “was as orderly as you could expect.”
Other evacuees stopped in Denver en route to other parts of the country.
“It was the only place I could find an open seat to,” said Ernie Scalzo, a Philadelphia resident who cut short his business trip in Houston. “I was anxious to get out (of Houston).”
One evacuee, Jo Long, said the Continental check-in line in Houston stretched outside the terminal for more than a block.
“There were thousands in line,” said Long, a 61-year-old retired saleswoman who arrived in Denver on a United Airlines flight. She lives 32 miles northwest of Galveston, Texas, in Clear Lake City, and worried that little will be left of her home when she returns.
“I left everything,” Long said.
Houston Aviation Department spokesman Roger Smith said the department won’t order the airports to close.
United tentatively planned to resume flights Saturday afternoon, and Frontier tentatively planned to resume flights Sunday.
But canceled flights may not be the biggest problems for the airlines. At Frontier, spokesman Joe Hodas said, “I think the real question for all airlines, us included, is how does it impact oil?
“If all those refineries become demolished, fuel is going to become a significant issue and it’s going to really squeeze us in the industry,” he said. “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, something happens and it goes worse.”
Evacuations caused staffing problems at the airports. Continental could be affected the most because of its Houston hub there.
Denver International Airport spokesman Steve Snyder said DIA could probably make space available for Continental to park planes flown in from Houston to protect them from the hurricane if needed.
Frontier flew a plane to Texas on Thursday night that will transport Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to Austin, San Antonio and Dallas to prepare for evacuees.
Hurricane Rita can also be blamed for interrupting voicemail service for Cingular customers in Colorado. The company’s computers in Houston were overwhelmed as hundreds of thousands of Texans fled the coastal areas and used their cellphones to leave messages.
Denver Post wire services and staff writers Ross Wehner and Will Shanley contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com or 303-820-1488.
