Hurricane Isaias Shuts Pensacola, Destin and Panama City Airports, and None Has a Reopening Time Yet

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, at about 8:30 p.m. CDT on Friday, October 9, 2026, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center. The three airline airports nearest the landfall point had already stopped flights.

Pensacola International (PNS), Destin-Fort Walton Beach (VPS) and Northwest Florida Beaches International in Panama City (ECP) had not announced a reopening time at the time of writing, late Friday night.

When each airport closed

Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport went first. Its website says all airport operations closed at 9 p.m. local time on Thursday, October 8, “until further notice.”

VPS is a civilian terminal on Eglin Air Force Base, so it shares an airfield with one of the military bases that had already flown its jets out (more on that below).

Pensacola International Airport closed its terminal to commercial operations at 10 a.m. Central Time on Friday. The airport says the reopening date and time will depend on damage assessments and on confirming that operations can resume safely.

Panama City’s airport stayed open on Thursday, then stopped commercial flights at 1 p.m. on Friday, WKRG reported, citing an airport release. Its terminal stayed open but was not operating as a public shelter.

Airport	Commercial flights stopped	Reopening
Destin-Fort Walton Beach (VPS)	9 p.m. Thursday, October 8	Until further notice
Pensacola (PNS)	10 a.m. Friday, October 9	Pending damage assessments
Panama City (ECP)	1 p.m. Friday, October 9	Not announced

The airports closed for good reason. In its 8 p.m. update, the hurricane center reported a wind gust of 102 mph (164 km/h) at Pensacola City Hall. Its landfall update added a 116 mph (187 km/h) gust at a weather station near Santa Rosa Sound.

How many flights were canceled

By 12:45 p.m. Friday, FlightAware listed 78 cancellations at VPS, 74 at Pensacola and 47 at Panama City, according to a tally by the Pensacola News Journal. Neither VPS nor Pensacola showed a single delay: once an airport closes, flights stop being late and start being canceled.

Those three Panhandle airports accounted for 199 of the 208 cancellations the tally listed across Florida. Elsewhere in the state, Isaias mostly produced delays, led by 154 at Orlando and 98 at Miami.

The disruption runs into Saturday. On Friday morning, FlightAware already showed 35 Pensacola flights canceled for Saturday, about a third of the day’s schedule, TravelPulse reported.

At 10 p.m. CDT, the hurricane center placed Isaias over the western Florida Panhandle, about 45 miles (75 km) east-northeast of Pensacola. It was moving north at 20 mph with sustained winds down to 90 mph (150 km/h).

The Air Force flew its jets out first

The region’s Air Force bases started moving aircraft out on Thursday, October 8. Tyndall Air Force Base, near Panama City, declared Hurricane Condition 2 and said its aircraft “have safely evacuated or been fully secured.”

Eglin flew out its airworthy aircraft from the 96th Test Wing, 53rd Wing and 33rd Fighter Wing that day and put the jets that could not fly in hangars, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. Hurlburt Field sent its AC-130 gunships and MC-130s to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.

The caution has a recent precedent. When Hurricane Michael struck Tyndall on October 10, 2018, aircraft that could not be flown out, including F-22 Raptors, were damaged in their hangars, some beyond repair, the magazine noted.

Some Air Force crews did the opposite. The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, whose home base is Keesler in Mississippi, kept flying reconnaissance missions into Isaias from Kelly Field in Texas, gathering data for the hurricane center’s forecasts. They are one of the few crews that fly into hurricanes on purpose.

What travelers can do

American Airlines has widened its waiver since Friday morning, and it now covers Saturday. It applies to travel booked for October 9 to 11 to, from or through 10 airports, including VPS, Pensacola, Panama City, Mobile, New Orleans and Tampa, on tickets bought by October 6, in any fare class, Basic Economy included.

American’s terms allow a new flight between October 7 and 14 with the same origin and destination, as long as the change is made by October 11.

Delta’s waiver covers October 9 and 10 at nine airports, including Pensacola, VPS, Panama City and Mobile, TravelPulse reported. Southwest’s advisory covers October 8 to 10 at VPS, Pensacola, Panama City Beach and New Orleans, with rebooking within 14 days and no fare difference.

United’s waiver covers October 9 and 10 at airports including Panama City, Gulfport-Biloxi, Mobile, New Orleans and Pensacola. Waiver dates move fast in a storm like this, so check the airline’s own advisory before rebooking.

A waiver only removes the change fee and fare difference. If the airline cancels your flight and you would rather not travel at all, the DOT’s automatic refund rule entitles you to your money back instead of a credit.

Do not count on a hotel or a meal voucher. The service commitments US airlines publish on the DOT’s dashboard cover disruptions within the airline’s control, and a hurricane is not one of them, a gap explained in our story on the new delay classification rule.