A Tale Of Two Airports, And Strong Crosswinds

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 11.15.06 1600 EST: Flights have been delayed left and right throughout the day at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, as stiff crosswinds have forced the bulk of the airport's traffic onto two crosswind runways.

Local news reports say winds out of the northwest in excess of 46 mph have forced airport officials to route much of the airport's departing and arriving flights onto the airport's two crosswind runways.

The good news is, Runways 31-Left and 31-Right are oriented directly into the prevailing winds; the bad news is, those runways are located at opposite ends of the airport... meaning long taxi and holding times both coming, and going.

Some flights have been cancelled outright because to the situation. The majority of departing flights have been delayed an hour, according to the DFW website, with inbound planes scheduled to arrive an average of about 90 minutes behind schedule.

A spokesman for DFW tells ANN that all seven of the airport's runways remain open, with four runways being used for arrivals. The DFW arrival ATIS (information Kilo) at 1555 EST gives a recommended ILS approach to Runway 31-Right, based on winds from 330 at 26 knots, gusting to 35.

A cold front that arrived overnight in the DFW metroplex is to blame for the airport woes.

The winds aren't much calmer at Dallas Love Field, located 12 miles east of DFW... but both of that airport's main runways are oriented into the winds. A spokesman for Southwest Airlines tells KDFW-4 the airport hasn't seen any significant delays due to the weather.

Fortunately, things are expected to settle down overnight... and by Thursday, relatively light 15 mph winds will return to the area.

FMI: www.dfwairport.com, www.dallas-lovefield.com