Flights into and out of Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were halted or slowed Wednesday due to radar and dialog issues impacting air traffic controllers,the Federal Aviation Governance confirmed. Southwest Airlines, a major carrier at Love Field, reported inbound flights were being slowed or held at their departure points, with a handful diverted.
The disruptions come as the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure faces increasing scrutiny following a series of recent outages. Earlier this year, a faulty telecommunications line between Long Island, New York, and Philadelphia caused repeated loss of contact with flights approaching or departing Newark Liberty International Airport. That April 28 incident silenced radios for 30 seconds and darkened radar scopes for 90 seconds, prompting five FAA employees to take 45 days of trauma leave and resulting in thousands of delayed flights. Three subsequent outages occurred before a new fiber optic cable was activated.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and a major hub for American Airlines. Southwest airlines operates a hub at Love Field.
“inbound flights to DAL have either been slowed or are being held at their departure airports. A handful of our flights diverted,” Southwest said in a statement. “we will work to get them back on track as soon as the FAA gives the go-ahead.”
The recent issues have prompted Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to urge Congress to support a plan for a new, multi-billion dollar air traffic control system. “It’s a substantial piece of work and will take a substantial amount of money,” Duffy said earlier this year.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
