Airlines consider a once unthinkable possibility — halting US flights

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Originally Posted by duece71

No doubt the big 3 auto makers will get our tax dollars as well.

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I've seen most auto plants are shut down. It's hitting my company as we provide services to them onsite, also shut down.

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Originally Posted by duece71

KLAS, Las Vegas McCarran closed its tower as well. The airport is still open, just uncontrolled. Different protocol for uncontrolled airports vs tower controlled. I have flown into and out of KLAS so many times I lost count. It would be eerie landing there with no clearance.

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ATC Zero and KLAS via CTAF. Good times.


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Originally Posted by sandsunsurf

Actually... In a few months we will all be saying “wow that was an over reaction and it didn’t do sh!t other than cause small businesses and line level workers to go bankrupt or get (further) behind in their payments. And oh the economy sucks now, clearly the dems manipulated this..”

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Which will be after the election and they have smeared Trump enough with this that the Left gets back in power. The answer from them will be "HAHAHAHA **** you! Pick up that can."

I went through MDW today... meh...

Approach cleared us for the ILS as normal and switched us to CTAF. Landed, taxi'd clear, called the special freq for cancelling that was setup. Taxi'd to the gate. All runways are closed except the active.

Called a phone number for IFR clearance. Taxi out, short of the runway call up the same freq as we did for cancelling after landing and tell them we are #1 and they gave us our initial climb clearance, back to CTAF and off we went...

While we cant run as many flights as normal, it wasnt bad and I think a bit of an overreaction(I am sensing a theme), but what do I know... Supposedly we are cancelling about 75-100 flights a day that would normally operate through there(normal is like 250 or so).

I do know there were zero biz jets there so I am guessing they arent allowed in or out and have to use one of the other airports in Chicago.

But the worst part was every restaurant in MDW was closed except the Billy Goat Tavern... darn the luck... LOL.

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Originally Posted by rjacobs

I went through MDW today... meh...

Approach cleared us for the ILS as normal and switched us to CTAF. Landed, taxi'd clear, called the special freq for cancelling that was setup. Taxi'd to the gate. All runways are closed except the active.

Called a phone number for IFR clearance. Taxi out, short of the runway call up the same freq as we did for cancelling after landing and tell them we are #1 and they gave us our initial climb clearance, back to CTAF and off we went...

While we cant run as many flights as normal, it wasnt bad and I think a bit of an overreaction(I am sensing a theme), but what do I know... Supposedly we are cancelling about 75-100 flights a day that would normally operate through there(normal is like 250 or so).

I do know there were zero biz jets there so I am guessing they arent allowed in or out and have to use one of the other airports in Chicago.

But the worst part was every restaurant in MDW was closed except the Billy Goat Tavern... darn the luck... LOL.

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Interesting about the biz jets, or lack thereof.

I looked at MDW NOTAMs and see a ATCSCC advisory but the Command Center database has no information on the advisory? Weird. I’d like to know if ATC is explicitly restricting GA. That’s not normal. NBAA only mentions a possible Ground Delay Program...

I assume you are an air carrier (SWA)?


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Originally Posted by pomyc

Interesting about the biz jets, or lack thereof.

I looked at MDW NOTAMs and see a ATCSCC advisory but the Command Center database has no information on the advisory? Weird. I’d like to know if ATC is explicitly restricting GA. That’s not normal. NBAA only mentions a possible Ground Delay Program...

I assume you are an air carrier (SWA)?


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yes to air carrier...

And yes to no biz jets. Well I take that back, there were maybe 3 or 4 on the SW side of the field, whatever FBO that is(signature according to google maps). But I think the big one on the SE side is Atlantic? Empty... guessing those biz jets at Signature are based there, but the rest... empty. I think total ops is like 12-14 per hour(6-7 takeoff and 6-7 landing).

Probably a MASSIVE pain in the ass trying to get a biz jet in there when there are what, 8+ other airports in chicago you could go to. I dont know, im not in that side of the industry.

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Originally Posted by rjacobs

yes to air carrier...

And yes to no biz jets. Well I take that back, there were maybe 3 or 4 on the SW side of the field, whatever FBO that is(signature according to google maps). But I think the big one on the SE side is Atlantic? Empty... guessing those biz jets at Signature are based there, but the rest... empty. I think total ops is like 12-14 per hour(6-7 takeoff and 6-7 landing).

Probably a MASSIVE pain in the ass trying to get a biz jet in there when there are what, 8+ other airports in chicago you could go to. I dont know, im not in that side of the industry.

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Ha ha. The ATCSCC Advisory was a TFR.

It looks like when the tower shutdown, some VFR C172 pilots jumped in to do touch and go’s-thinking it was cool. After that, the FAA put in a TFR restricting it to commercial and other authorized activity. Looks like that has been cancelled now too.


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Originally Posted by rjacobs

yes to air carrier...

And yes to no biz jets. Well I take that back, there were maybe 3 or 4 on the SW side of the field, whatever FBO that is(signature according to google maps). But I think the big one on the SE side is Atlantic? Empty... guessing those biz jets at Signature are based there, but the rest... empty. I think total ops is like 12-14 per hour(6-7 takeoff and 6-7 landing).

Probably a MASSIVE pain in the ass trying to get a biz jet in there when there are what, 8+ other airports in chicago you could go to. I dont know, im not in that side of the industry.

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My company’s flight demand is down 64% from last month so not surprised about not seeing biz jets. We use signature (mostly) and Atlantic sometimes. The TFR is still in effect at MDW until 3/26.

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Originally Posted by rjacobs

I went through MDW today... meh...

Approach cleared us for the ILS as normal and switched us to CTAF. Landed, taxi'd clear, called the special freq for cancelling that was setup. Taxi'd to the gate. All runways are closed except the active.

Called a phone number for IFR clearance. Taxi out, short of the runway call up the same freq as we did for cancelling after landing and tell them we are #1 and they gave us our initial climb clearance, back to CTAF and off we went...

While we cant run as many flights as normal, it wasnt bad and I think a bit of an overreaction(I am sensing a theme), but what do I know... Supposedly we are cancelling about 75-100 flights a day that would normally operate through there(normal is like 250 or so).

I do know there were zero biz jets there so I am guessing they arent allowed in or out and have to use one of the other airports in Chicago.

But the worst part was every restaurant in MDW was closed except the Billy Goat Tavern... darn the luck... LOL.

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MDW is pretty busy for my company. I have gone into Dupage and Palwaukee (the small airport north of ORD with 5 different names) quite frequently. Gary IN as well but not as much as MDW. ORD is only occasionally which makes for quite an exciting/frustrating time.

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Originally Posted by duece71

MDW is pretty busy for my company. I have gone into Dupage and Palwaukee (the small airport north of ORD with 5 different names) quite frequently. Gary IN as well but not as much as MDW. ORD is only occasionally which makes for quite an exciting/frustrating time.

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yes but at least you all have other options... we dont...

I went through STL a few times and I think we are routing pax through there as it was "busy"... at least busier than anywhere else I went. HOU was also "busy" today... we had to wait for a gate which was utterly ridiculous... They keep preaching that we all need to operate the best we can to save money... well that means moving us to a different gate so we dont sit out and burn gas we dont need to... we arent inconveniencing a ton of passengers... only like 30 need to move from one gate to the next...

Or not having ground air working so we have to run the APU and burn gas...

Or asking to pull ground power 20 minutes prior to push time(our book says 5 minutes)... This happened several times on this last trip. Every time I opened my window and explained WHY we werent going to be doing that and we are in money saving mode which means no burning gas we dont need to burn...

I also say ATC needs to get their shit together. And im not talking about controllers getting sick...that sucks for all involved... but "no directs because of an LOA with the next center"..."gotta start you down early for a crossing because of an LOA with the next center"(they started us down from 400 to 300 almost 80 miles prior to our TOD)... They arent helping us save gas... Its the same ol, same ol with ATC... I get it when there are to many planes in the sky... but traffic is SEVERELY reduced... I think we can bend the rules for a while.