Salt Lake City International Airport activated pre-prepared emergency plans to handle ground stop

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City International Airport is on track to achieve a full recovery of flight operations by Sunday evening following Friday's ground stop that canceled nearly 140 Utah flights, according to airport officials.

The Salt Lake City International Airport sprang into action on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for all flights, impacting an estimated 11,250 flights across the United States.

Director of Communication and Marketing for the Salt Lake City International Airport Nancy Volmer said the airport had planned for emergency situations in advance, immediately activating protocols to help ensure passengers were taken care of during the unexpected delay that ended up canceling 138 flights since Friday.

Usually, emergency protocols are triggered by inclement weather, but Volmer said she believes airport staff responded well to the ground stop's disruption of normal flight operations.

"I'm very proud of the work that our team did," Volmer said.

Approximately 300 flights leave Salt Lake City International Airport daily, according to Volmer. The more than four-hour ground stop affected thousands of flights across the country through cancellations and heavy delays.

"There were some of the flights that were on the tarmac ready to take off," she said, "and they did have to return to the gate and unload."

The airport was also prepared to help land flights diverted from other airports, but Volmer said no planes made unexpected pit stops in Salt Lake City.

Less than half an hour after the ground stop was lifted, Volmer said that there were flights continuously departing from the airport. Beginning at 12 a.m. Saturday morning, approximately 216 flights had departed from Salt Lake City.

Related:

US air travel schedule should recover from ground stop by the end of Sunday, FAA says

Airlines across the U.S. are working to recover from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. Thousands of flights were canceled Saturday.

Some passengers asked airport staff for blankets and pillows Friday as they prepared to sleep in the concourse, but Volmer said others returned to their home in Utah, rented vehicles at the airport, or traveled to a hotel in the city.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, the lines around airline help desks have shrunk, according to Volmer, and the lines to secure luggage have also grown smaller. The TSA lines continue to flow, and the airport operations team told Volmer things are "actually running very smoothly."

"I really appreciate the patience of all of our passengers," Volmer said. "This was done to try to keep passengers safe. I know it was very disruptive, and we just appreciate everyone for their cooperation and patience."

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