FAA Grounds North Texas flights

The Federal Aviation Administration suspended all arrivals and departures from DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field on Wednesday. The two airports have announced the stoppage of air traffic on their respective social media channels. The closures were in effect from 3:00 pm until about 5:30 pm and were partly due to bad weather and sanitation needed at the FAA’s main offsite operations center for the region in Fort Worth, an FAA spokesman said.

The control center employs around 380 air traffic controllers and handles high-level air traffic in several states.

Arlene Salac, FAA spokesperson, told the Observer in an emailed statement that the previous Wednesday an air traffic control officer at the Fort Worth Air Traffic Control Center tested positive for COVID-19. They were at the facility for the last time at Christmas.

The spokesman said that if an affected employee has been at the facility for seven days or less before testing positive for the virus, the agency’s protocols require level 3 cleaning of all areas where that employee may have been. Cleaning started around 3:45 pm local time.

Because cleaning required employees to temporarily leave the control room, the FAA declared a ground stop, causing delays and cancellations. Other FAA facilities supported the closure and worked on traffic around the affected airspace, said Salac. The cleaning was completed around 5:05 pm, allowing the flights to continue.

“The FAA takes the safety of its employees and the flying public very seriously,” said the spokesman. “Throughout this event, pilots were always in contact with air traffic control officials, whether at the Fort Worth Air Traffic Control Center, or at other air traffic control facilities.

As of Wednesday night, Flightaware.com was reporting hundreds of delays and cancellations at and outside the two airports.