Question of the Day - 01 March 2019

Were you flying out that night? Did you hear from an airline employee that the whole airport was shut down? Did you look out the window? If you did, you might've seen planes taking off, at least according to McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Christine Crews, who took the time to respond.

“The airport was not shut down on February 20, nor any other day in recent history," she wrote.

“There many moving parts and parties when it comes to airport and airline operations, and sometimes people don’t take into account all of the factors in play. There are the conditions on the ground; the conditions in the skies (near and far); and the condition of the aircraft equipment. There’s also crew and other labor availability that factors into airline operations as well. There are many more, but we will stick with these basics.

“The airport monitors and maintains the conditions on the ground (the runways, taxiways, and airfield in general) and the [Federal Aviation Administration] controls traffic in the skies. Airfield operations were normal on the evening of February 20 and the FAA did not have any traffic management measures (ground stops, metering, etc.) in play.

“So that leaves the airlines … Airlines maintain their equipment and evaluate if it can perform in the current conditions. They also take into account if they have the necessary crew available, and then decide whether to continue an operation, delay, or cancel a flight. Taking into account the conditions on February 20, whether or not an aircraft needs to be de-iced was likely part of that decision-making process. Not all airlines operating at LAS have de-icing equipment.

“On February 20, there were airlines that decided to cancel some flights and some that did not, but the whole airport was not shut down. Flights were landing. Flights were taking off.”

And here's another possibility. If you were flying Southwest Airlines, the weather conditions last week were compounded by serious operational issues that Southwest has been confronting over the past several weeks. The short version is that a long-running labor dispute with the mechanics union has caught up with the airline, which last time we checked had double the usual number of planes out of service due to "unspecified mechanical issues." If you heard from a Southwest employee that the entire airport was shut down, a bit of hyperbole might have crept into the explanation.