Stuck travelers at Idaho Falls Airport deal with nationwide ground stop
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IDAHO FALLS — Many local travelers are being impacted across Idaho as the Federal Aviation Administration enacted a nationwide ground stop due to a “communications issue.”
Around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, the FAA issued the ground stop “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a social media post. “FAA technicians are investigating the issue.”
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It is not clear exactly what is causing the travel delays, or when the issue will be resolved.
Travelers are currently stranded at many regional airports across the country as flights have been delayed by multiple hours.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the Idaho Falls Regional Airport Director, Ian Turner, but we have not yet heard back.
A Facebook post from IDA says that local travelers should check with the airline of their booked flight for updated information.
According to City of Idaho Falls spokesperson Cody Roberts, the exact number of people waiting at Idaho Falls Regional Airport is confidential due to security reasons.
The exact number of local flights impacted is also unavailable because it is currently unknown how many flights across all airlines were able to take off before the ground stop was called.
EastIdahoNews.com reporter Logan Ramsey spoke to travelers at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport, who filtered out of the departure gate periodically over time. Upon arrival, the TSA gates were closed, but the airport reopened them at 4 p.m.
Notably, the Idaho State University basketball team were waiting in the landside area of the airport. Kenyon Bemuinck, who plays forward, and CJ Edwards, assistant men’s basketball coach, told EastIdahoNews.com that they had been waiting for around three hours.
At 3:30 p.m., the team boarded a bus to their game against Seattle University in Seattle, Washington.
Julian Awdry, who was visiting Idaho Falls from Portland, Oregon, for business for the week, said he was grateful for how airport staff handled the situation.
“It affects all of us. There’s places we’d like to be, but I feel particularly bad for the for the staff here because they are questioned and … they’re probably here talking to people like me and saying we don’t know what to do either, but they’ve been very as helpful as they can be.”
We will continue to update when we learn more.
