DENVER — Denver International Airport is back to normal Monday morning after the FAA issued a ground stop for thunderstorms and wind Sunday evening.
While the airport never shut down, flights were taking off and landing at a much slower rate than normal, and flights were also being grounded at their originating city for some time Sunday.
As of approximately 7:15 p.m. Sunday, airport officials were reporting delays of around an hour for arrivals and departures, and 25 flights were diverted due to strong winds around the time they were supposed to land. However, one traveler said she was delayed for about two and a half hours.
“Something I've loved about living in Denver is how easy these flights are — it's just a couple hour flights, any direction. But all of that ease and convenience kind of goes out the window when you're delayed two and a half hours,” said Liz Ziner, who was returning to Denver after a work trip in Wisconsin.
Other passengers were reporting being stuck on the tarmac for hours and complaining of hot temperatures on the planes. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fly Rights, DOT rules prohibit most U.S. airlines from allowing a domestic flight to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours unless:
- The pilot determines that there is a safety or security reason why the aircraft cannot taxi to the gate and deplane its passengers, or
- Air traffic control advises the pilot that taxiing to the gate (or to another location where passengers can be deplaned) would significantly disrupt airport operations.
In total, more than 600 flights were delayed in or out of DIA on Sunday, according to Flight Aware. As of Monday morning, there were 41 reported delays.