Panama City airport reopens with limited service and all passengers are advised to check with airlines before going to the airport

The Panama City airport is beginning to restore some service, its website reported Friday, but all passengers who are in hurricane-affected areas are asked to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

The Twitter feed for Panama City’s Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP)--@IFlyBeaches—said on Friday morning, “ECP is phasing in very limited commercial operations starting at noon today, October 12. Please continue to check directly with your airline carrier for any arrival or departure flight-related questions and before heading to the airport.”

Go here for airline numbers and websites or go to lat.ms/airlinewebsandphones.

FlightAware showed that 40% of the flights out of Northwest Florida Beaches International had been canceled and 6% were delayed. Large Southeastern airports were operating with fewer cancellations on Friday than earlier in the week. Charleston, S.C., International had 4% cancellations and 4% of flights delayed, and Charlotte/Douglas in North Carolina had no cancellations and only 3% delayed;

Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 155 mph. It was downgraded to a tropical storm and is sweeping through Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.

Six people have been killed in the storms, which, news reports said, devastated Mexico Beach, 20 minutes east of Panama City Beach.

This story was updated at 9:55 to add information about Panama City airport’s reopening. It originally published at 11:25 a.m. Thursday.

travel@latimes.com

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