Fog grounds flights at Yellowknife airport
Last Updated: Monday, October 5, 2009 | 1:30 PM CT
CBC News
The Yellowknife airport was closed for about three hours Monday morning, due to fog coming off Great Slave Lake.
The fog cut visibility down to about 600 feet (183 metres), airport manager Steve Loutitt told CBC News.
"There were several flights that were grounded," Loutitt said Monday.
"The morning traffic got off the ground [but] there were some delays incurred as a result of the visibility, and there were five to seven flights that were en route to Yellowknife and were diverted to other airports."
Most of the diverted aircraft went to Hay River, N.W.T., where airport manager Kelly O'Connor said up to seven passenger aircraft crowded the airport's apron that morning.
The diverted planes started departing before noon, he added, meaning flights should be back to normal early in the afternoon.
O'Connor said the unscheduled air traffic did not put any additional strain on the Hay River airport, since mid-morning is one of the quietest periods in the day.
Airlines will help passengers whose travel schedules were disrupted by the morning interruption, O'Connor said.
