Heading to Florida? Check your flight status before Hurricane Milton hits, travellers told | CBC News

Toronto residents heading to Florida are being urged to check the status of their flights before going to Pearson International Airport with Hurricane Milton forecast to make landfall late Wednesday.

Erica Vella, spokesperson for Toronto Pearson, said in an interview that there are no operational impacts to the airport itself, but several airlines are cancelling flights to Florida in anticipation of the hurricane. 

“We’re seeing a lot of airports in Florida also shutting down operations,” Vella said. “Right now, our message to passengers is that they should be checking the status of their flight before they come to the airport.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a video on X, formerly Twitter, that airports are closed in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Orlando, Daytona Beach and Fort Myers. The FAA said it expects airports in Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Miami to remain open despite the impacts of the storm.

Air Canada said on X that it has cancelled its flights to Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa Wednesday through to Friday. The airline added that it is offering a flexible rebooking policy and plans to add more than 1,100 seats after the hurricane passes to provide more travel options.

Porter Airlines said on X it has cancelled all Florida flights on Wednesday and all Orlando flights on Thursday. “Passengers will automatically be rebooked on flights later in the week,” the airline said.

Milton, which was downgraded to a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, is expected to hit Florida’s west central coast.

The hurricane is bringing “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains,” to central and southwestern Florida, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an update at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

“On the forecast track, the center of Milton will make landfall near or just south of the Tampa Bay region this evening, move across the central part of the Florida peninsula overnight, and emerge off the east coast of Florida on Thursday,” the centre said.

“Milton could still be a major hurricane when it reaches the coast of west-central Florida this evening, and it will remain a hurricane while it moves across central Florida through Thursday,” it added.

Milton is forecast to weaken over the western Atlantic by Thursday night.

In a report by the Associated Press, the U.S. National Weather Service said seven tornadoes have hit Florida in advance of Milton.