Over 250 Flights Delayed

A temporary ground-stop issued by the Federal Aviation Administration occasioned the delay or cancellation of more than 250 flights operating to/from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).

Issued at approximately 12:30 MDT on Monday, 24 July and lifted one-hour later, the ground-stop affected primarily the operations of the airport’s two largest carriers—American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

The FAA’s order corresponded with record-high summer temperatures in the Phoenix metropolitan area, where daytime temperatures have exceeded 110-degrees Fahrenheit for over 25-consecutive days.

By way of explanation, the FAA ascribed the PHX ground-stop to “other.” Some time later, the agency alleged the measure had been undertaken in response to an undisclosed telecommunication problem in neighboring New Mexico.

In a statement, the FAA set forth: “The FAA’s Albuquerque Center [ARTCC] had a telecommunications issue which affected Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. It has already been resolved, and you should contact the individual airlines for more information on their schedules.”

Air traffic control audio provided additional insight vis-a-vis the ground-stop’s cause.

"We are not able to depart anybody right now," a Phoenix tower controller advised.

"Is that a problem at the airport?" an on-frequency pilot responded.

"There is a problem at Albuquerque's Center with flight plans, and so that are not populating correctly, and all departures have been stopped for probably ninety-minutes," the Phoenix tower controller explained.

By 14:00 MDT on 24 July, upwards of one-hundred PHX flights had reportedly been delayed. Online flight-tracking indicated thay ty 18:30 MDT some 287 PHX flights had been delayed and nine canceled. A total of  91 American Airlines inbound and outbound flights were delayed. Southwest Airlines endured 110 flight delays. Eight of the nine cancellations were of American Airlines flights.

A Southwest Airlines spokesperson remarked: "We worked with the FAA for a few minutes this afternoon to sequence our inbound flights at Sky Harbor to minimize the chance that any aircraft would be holding out for a gate to open up, or would have a long taxi out for takeoff, ever-mindful of heat in these operating conditions. Nine out of ten Southwest flights arriving into Phoenix today are on time."

Whether or not the communication breakdown at Albuquerque Center was attributable to heat remains unknown.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), PHX, on the day of the ground-stop, recorded a temperature of 115-degrees Fahrenheit at 15:51 MDT. The NWS had issued an excessive heat warning encompassing most of southern and western Arizona through Thursday, 27 July, at 20:00 MDT, with temperatures not expected to dip below 110-degrees until week’s end.

FMI: www.faa.gov