Airport closure

Last flight out at 7:45 tonight, but tickets are scarce, officials say

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International schedules last flight out at 7:45 p.m.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Tourists and residents seeking to flee South Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma found the odds of snagging airplane seats between slim and none as airlines and airports prepared to suspend operations before the end of today.

The last flight out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport will be at 7:45 p.m. tonight, airport spokesman Greg Meyer said in a media briefing Thursday. Inbound flight activity will also cease as airlines take steps to fly planes out of the area.

Spirit Airlines, one of the busiest carriers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood will wind down operations late today, spokesman Paul Berry said.

“We will be operating flights out of FLL until 7:30 p.m. tomorrow,” Berry said via email Thursday. “We haven’t determined when we will stop operations at [Orlando International Airport] yet, but the airport is closing at 5 p.m. Saturday. So it will be sometime prior to that.”

Southwest Airlines will also cancel all flights starting this evening through Sunday to and from Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, and West Palm Beach. Service will resume when it’s safe to do so, the Dallas-based carrier said

Early Thursday afternoon, about 1,000 people without reservations appeared at American Airlines’ ticket counters at Miami International Airport trying to purchase tickets to leave town, a spokeswoman said.

“There are little to no