No planes landing at KCI, airfield closed for poor visibility in blizzard conditions
Planes were not able to land at Kansas City International Airport Sunday afternoon after blizzard conditions reduced visibility to less than a 1/4 mile.
In a tweet at about 2:30 p.m., the airport reported that the airfield was closed to arrivals because of the weather.
Airport crews continued to plow and sweep runways and taxiways so that when visibility gets up to 3/4 of a mile planes could start landing, an airport official said.
People expecting to meet passengers on arriving planes, as well as those flying out of KCI, were urged to check www.flykci.com for the status of their flights.
Airlines began canceling flights into and out of Kansas City International Airport Sunday morning as the Kansas City area braced for a major winter storm that was threatening to create blizzard-like conditions.
Dozens of flights were canceled or delayed, according to www.flykci.com, which has the latest flight status information.
KCI was advising passengers not to come to the airport if their flights had been canceled. Also, most airlines were waiving booking fees on flights not canceled.
Meanwhile, road conditions were worsening across the Kansas City area, according to the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill.
As of 9:30 a.m., snow-covered roads were being reported in the St. Joseph area.
Roads were expected to begin to deteriorate in the northern Kansas City metropolitan area between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
The trend in the storm so far, the Weather Service said, is about 30 minutes to an hour of sleet, then a quick transition to snow.
Kansas City’s Aviation Department is responsible for keeping the runways, taxiways, roadways and parking lots safe and free from excessive snow and ice at both the Wheeler Downtown and Kansas City International airports.
It’s rare that either of the airports is shut down due to weather. Airlines, however, do cancel flights due to weather conditions, even though the airports remain open.
This story was originally published November 25, 2018 at 10:30 AM.