Flight cancellations and delays continued at Miami International Airport days after a fuel farm fire. The good news: The number was decreasing.
Visitors ready to leave town after a weekend of partying, dancing or golfing should know this: Flying out of Miami International Airport has improved, but it still isn’t back to full speed.
In the ongoing recovery from last week’s fuel fire, 79 flights were canceled Sunday, a drop from 143 the day before and higher numbers during the week. The bulk of the cancelations came from American and American Eagle airlines. They reported a total of 70 cancelations: 35 departing and 35 inbound flights.
And the airport and airlines were optimistic that those numbers would continue to drop as the week continues with the help of temporary pumps being installed to get the fuel system used to fill-up planes back to nearly full capacity.
“While we’re certainly not out of the woods yet, we are much better than we were the first couple days,” American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said
But flying out of Miami still isn’t back to normal. Overall delays at the airport went up, from 28 on Saturday to 85 on Sunday.
Smith repeated the traditional travel wisdom often repeated to passengers: Check early and often with your airline before heading to MIA. And if you’re calling their customer service hotline, he also suggested callers have some patience — the line has been getting more calls than normal.
Damage caused by Wednesday night’s massive fire at the airport’s fuel tanks disrupted a system designed to deliver large amounts of fuel to many airplanes quickly. With that routine crippled, the following days saw hundreds of flights canceled.
The tanks — known collectively as a fuel farm — together hold eight million gallons of fuel feeding 14 underground pumps that send 2,000 gallons of fuel each hour to trucks near terminals to refuel airplanes. The tanks hold more than half the airport’s fuel supplies.
On Sunday, the airport took another step toward restoring the system by installing two temporary pumps that would help move fuel. The pumps were being tested and calibrated on Sunday, airport spokeswoman Maria Levrant said.
Officials hope to get four more temporary pumps installed and working during the week. They hope to have that accomplished by the middle of the week. “They are working feverishly to put them together and start installing them,” Levrant said. “That’s their number one priority, getting the next four pumps installed.”
The fuel comes to the airport via Everglades Pipeline, which runs in a 35-mile arc west from Port Everglades through Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Miramar and Hialeah before reaching the airport. It transmits about 55,000 barrels of jet fuel each day.
Officials said the Everglades Pipeline showed no damage from the fire.
The damaged fuel farm meant Sunday was another day of delivering much of the fuel to planes with trucks. Smith said 12 tanker trucks zipped back and forth between the fuel farm and gates with deliveries.
Smith said some flights were departing from Miami with enough fuel to reach another airport, like Orlando, and would fully fill up there before going on to their final destination. Some inbound planes made sure to carry more fuel than they needed when flying into Miami, so they could take in less fuel when they arrived.
“We just keep finding different ways to tweak this,” Smith said. “We’re not home free yet, but we’re finding some additional ways to cope.”