All Provo Airport flights canceled Friday due to 'sticky' inversion


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PROVO — All flights in and out of the Provo Airport were cancelled for the second consecutive day Friday, and the winter inversion is to blame, according to an airport administrator.

A total of eight Allegiant Airlines flights to and from Provo were cancelled on Friday alone, Provo Airport Manager Steve Gleason confirmed. Flights were also canceled Thursday.

Gleason is worried about the prospect of additional cancellations being put in place Saturday because of heavy inversion weather.

"The inversion has just pasted a sticky cloud right over the top of the airport and our visibility has been pretty poor," Gleason said. "So we're praying for a storm at this point."

Allegiant Airlines, the only commercial airline to fly in and out of Provo, also said that the inversion has become a safety hazard.

"Safety is Allegiant's top priority, and in order to safely land our aircraft we require (three quarters) of a mile of clear visibility," airline spokesman Brandon Myers said Friday. "Currently, visibility conditions at the airport are at (one eighth) of a mile."

In his 17 years in the airline industry, Gleason said he has never seen an inversion as disruptive as the one the Provo Airport is currently experiencing.

"We've had days where our visibility was bad, but never all day and definitely not three or four days in a row," he said, noting that fog almost always clears by noon. "This is really unusual."

The inversion will likely persist, according to Gleason, but for now the airport is "still planning on trying it (Saturday)." Because of a storm front moving in Sunday, he said, it's unlikely that the inversion will affect flights from that day forward.

Myers said affected Allegiant passengers were allowed to switch to another of the airline's flights at no charge. He didn't say how many passengers' flights were cancelled.

Parking charges were suspended for affected airport customers as well, Gleason said.

Allegiant offers Provo flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Flights to and from all three cities were affected by this week's cancellations.

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