St. Petersburg flight tower closed since workers has coronavirus

The air targeted traffic command tower at St. Pete-Clearwater Intercontinental Airport was shut right up until at the very least Jan. 31 by the Federal Aviation Administration just after staff customers tested favourable for the coronavirus.

In a brief statement, the FAA claimed the non permanent closure should really not affect journey in and out of the airport, at 14700 Terminal Boulevard in Clearwater. The airspace will be monitored by the air visitors regulate tower at nearby Tampa Worldwide Airport.

“The FAA has a sturdy contingency prepare for each individual air targeted traffic manage facility, and remains positioned to promptly tackle the effects of the COVID-19 community health crisis,” the company mentioned in a assertion.

“The agency constantly displays controller staffing and visitors demand, and stays in near call with airports, airlines and other stakeholders so we can prioritize our methods to fulfill the finest need.”

According to a genuine-time coronavirus monitoring map on the FAA’s web-site, personnel doing work in the tower at St. Pete-Clearwater International tested favourable for the coronavirus Jan. 20. No details was quickly offered on how a lot of personnel contracted or the illness or are at danger because of to exposure.

As of mid-day Sunday, the tower at the airport — abbreviated as PIE — was the only tower in Florida closed because of to the coronavirus.

In the launch, the FAA stated COVID-19 cleansing carries on in all air website traffic command services, usually right away when much less staff customers are operating.

During the cleanings, these on the career get the job done from specified backup destinations, these types of as airline ramp towers.

The cleanings in the beginning took six to eight hours to complete, but by means of partnerships with nearby health-related industry experts and cleaning companies the course of action now requires as very little as 90 minutes, the agency explained.

“Every ATC (air site visitors handle) facility has a backup strategy in circumstance it has to temporarily shut,” the FAA stated. “This has been the situation for numerous a long time and is not linked to COVID-19.”

Passengers planning to journey by the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport during the pandemic can review the PIE COVID-19 Action System on the net at www.flytopie.com.