CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The Federal Aviation Administration did a deep cleaning at the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas which lead to a flight cancellation this afternoon.
The FAA said a staffing shortage related to multiple health and safety factors, including COVID-19, resulted in the temporary closure of the air traffic control tower at the St. Thomas airport.
“The air traffic control tower at Cyril E. King Airport, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was closed today for a COVID-19 cleaning from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time,” Tony Molinara told the Virgin Islands Free Press this evening. “Like the rest of the U.S. population, an increased number of FAA employees have tested positive for COVID-19. To maintain safety, traffic volume at some facilities must be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods.”
The Air Traffic Control Tower at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas was re-opened today at 4 p.m., the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) said.
“The tower was temporarily closed today due to a staffing shortage but is now open and operating,” VIPA said.
The FAA has a robust contingency plan for every air traffic control facility.
‘During the past year, the FAA has performed daily, scheduled deep cleanings at high-priority air traffic control facilities, regardless of whether they recently experienced COVID cases,” Molinara said. “By doing this, we have enabled these facilities to remain open on more than 1,100 occasions when they experienced COVID cases.”
American Airlines was the only airline that reported a cancellation at 1:40 p.m. today, according to VIPA.
American Airlines Flight 1461 from Miami to St. Thomas canceled today due to the tower being closed.