Saturday, April 23, 2011

St. Louis Airport Closed by Tornado

Airlines have steadily whacked away at service at the St. Louis airport in recent years, but a tornado has now shut it down. However, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, airport officials now say they expect it to be operating tomorrow.

St. Louis usually has about 280 departing flights daily. All are cancelled now and till further notice. As of today, the top airlines at St. Louis and the numbers of their cancelled flights are: Southwest (67), American (25), Cape Air (15), Trans States (9), Delta (9).

By the way, the Federal Aviation Administration's hilariously useless airport-delays online page which some in the media credulously cite regularly, unaware that it is almost never accurate) is, of course, hilariously useless right now. It says:

Lambert-St Louis International Airport (STL)

FAA Status: Normal

General Departure Delays: Traffic is experiencing gate hold and taxi delays lasting 15 minutes or less.

General Arrival Delays: Arrival traffic is experiencing airborne delays of 15 minutes or less.


That, of course, is nonsense. The airport is shut right now.

Meanwhile, this notice was posted today by the St. Louis airport, which hasn't bothered to update it because, hey, who needs timely information about air travel?

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is closed indefinitely due to severe storm damage on Friday, April 22.

All departing and arriving flights are cancelled until further notice pending full safety assessments of airport facilities.

Contact your airline for latest updates and options for all departing and arriving flights.

St. Louis City, St. Louis County and surrounding municipalities are actively assisting the airport with cleanup efforts and safety review of all operations in and around the airport complex.

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