Gander’s airport authority says it prepared for possible diversions after a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ground stop lasting more than four hours was lifted Friday night.
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Gander, N.L.’s international airport authority said Friday evening it was ready to receive diverted passengers after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop order that was in place for more than four hours beginning Friday afternoon, citing communications issues affecting air-traffic-control centres.
Reg Wright, the chief executive of the international airport authority, said officials called hotels to gauge available rooms and ensured staff were in place to keep the restaurant open.
Wright said there was relief when the ground stop was lifted Friday night without any diversions to Gander, allowing the community Christmas craft fair to go ahead in the airport lounge on Saturday.
“The Christmas craft fair was at stake!” Wright said in an interview Saturday. “Airport operations clearly comes first, but there would have been a lot of vendors and Christmas shoppers who would have been unhappy if it hadn't gone our way.”
American officials emphasized the communications failure was not similar to Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that nobody was ever in danger during the failure, saying: “There was never any lives at risk,” and “There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it.”
Wright said he did not expect a large influx of planes because there were no flights between Gander and the United States and it was not a peak travel period between the U.S. and Europe, though he said there remained the possibility Gander could be needed.
Mayor Percy Farwell said he had “informal communications” with airport officials and Nav Canada to prepare in case the town was affected, describing a community-wide approach of “putting out feelers” and “quasi-preparing” for the possibility of impact.
Farwell said the craft fair continued as planned and the event was doing well, with almost 100 tables set up for sales.
The airport in Gander has long, sprawling runways due to its role in airspace between Europe and North America, and it has historically been used for refuelling on transatlantic journeys, including during the Second World War. After the U.S. shut down its airspace following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, dozens of planes were diverted to Gander, where the community later became internationally known for hosting stranded passengers.
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