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Weather, equipment problem delay Logan flights

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 1, 2009 12:08 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Arrivals at Logan Airport are being delayed even longer as bad weather continues to dominate Boston. Flights are now three hours behind schedule because of the low cloud cover and an equipment failure that has shut down the runway most heavily used during bad weather, the FAA said today.

Departures are also being slowed, but by far shorter periods of time, and the FAA is urging travelers to check with their airlines about revised schedules.

Peters said the instrument-landing system at Runway 4R failed Tuesday for reasons that are still under investigation. Without the system, the FAA has to shift landings to runways 33L and 15. Those runways can handle instrument landings, but officials prefer to use 4R in bad weather conditions.

To assure safe flights, the FAA has ordered airports across the country to hold Boston-bound flights on the ground until a landing slot opens at Logan. At 3 p.m., the airport has cut the number of landings to 26 an hour, down from the normal rate of more than 60, Peters said.

Peters said that if weather worsens, the FAA may reduce the number of arrivals and may also stop allowing planes to land at Logan entirely.

УIf we go below the [safety] minimums, we cannot allow aircraft to land,ТТ Peters said. УIn effect, today we are limited to one runway for landings and one runway for takeoffs.ТТ

He said the FAA is closely watching weather conditions.

It is not known how long it will take to repair the instrument-landing system and bring 4R back into service, Peters said.