MISSOULA - As if flying over the holidays wasn't turbulent enough with thousands of flights canceled, a system failure grounded flights early Wednesday as well.
Both the Missoula and Kalispell airports were impacted when the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions system failed, causing a nationwide ground delay. The agency is looking into the cause of the failure.
Missoula Montana Airport Director Brian Ellestad explained to MTN News what happened locally on Wednesday morning.
"So, we were notified at 6 a.m. -- from our local air traffic control tower -- that there was a national ground stop. So, our four originating flights ended up [being delayed] anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. So, we had four flights that were totally delayed."
One flight was being delayed out of Missoula as of Thursday morning. Flight information for the Missoula airport can be found at https://flymissoula.com/flight-status.
