Cancellations, delays to ease at San Francisco International Airport

SAN FRANCISCO — Flying into and out of San Francisco International Airport is about to get a bit easier, following a nearly two-week stretch that brought delays, cancellations and headaches.

The reconstruction of Runway 28L will be finished a week ahead of schedule, airport officials announced Wednesday. Crews completed the base layer, and the repaving and repainting of the runway surface will be done in time to open the runway by 9 p.m. Thursday.

“I would like to acknowledge the inconvenience this work caused our customers,” Airport Director Ivar C. Satero said in a statement, adding he wanted “to thank them for their patience during this critical project, which will ensure the long-time reliability of our runway system at SFO.”

The closure began a minute after midnight on Sept. 7, and crews have been working 24 hours a day since then. More than 2,000 flights have either been cancelled or delayed since the construction began.

By 9 a.m. Wednesday, 114 flights had been delayed and 59 cancelled for the day, according to Flight Aware, which tracks delays and cancellations at airports.

Heavy delays and cancellations are expected to continue through Thursday night until the runway opens.