Flights suspended at several Texas airports due to communications failure

TEXAS – A failure in the communications system at the Air Traffic Control facilities at the Houston airport caused at least three terminals in the state of Texas to suspend flights, causing delays to thousands of people in the Valley region.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that on Monday, September 25, it had “suspended departures at three Texas airports while a communications system at the Houston air traffic control facility is being repaired”.

The airports affected were McAllen International, Brownsville/South Padre Island and Valley Airport in Harlingen.

The Harlingen airport’s website reflected that both a flight from Houston that was supposed to land at 3:10 pm and a flight from Dallas that was landing at 2:29 pm were canceled. While at the Brownsville airport, a flight arriving from Houston at 4:01 pm was cancelled. In addition, two flights departing for Houston at 9:20 am and 5:22 pm were also cancelled.

According to the Brownsville City Council, there was a disruption in commercial flights at Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport on Monday afternoon due to “an unknown reason.”

Although commercial flights at Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport were canceled, the outage affected not only Brownsville, but also McAllen International Airport and Valley International Airport, a statement said.

Private aircraft operations were not affected by the problem, while passengers with scheduled flights were advised to stay in direct contact with their respective commercial airlines, as some flights had to be rescheduled.

Hours later, Brownsville authorities reported that activity had resumed, without detailing the number of passengers affected.

While McAllen International Airport reported only that FAA technical problems had forced ground stops at several airports, including MFE.