Las Vegas International Airport has closed its air traffic control tower after a controller ‘tested positive’ for coronavirus.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the controller was diagnosed to have COVID-19 on Wednesday resulting 463 flights having to be been cancelled since the closing of the facility.
All remaining flights were sent to a nearby air traffic monitoring facility.
“The safety of our staff and the traveling public is the FAA’s top priority,” FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
“The air traffic system is resilient with multiple backups and that the shift in air traffic control was part of a longstanding contingency plan“.
A flight tracking website, flightradar24.com, said nearly 500 flights had been canceled at the hub, which is now receiving flights at a reduced rate.
On Tuesday evening, a control tower at Chicago Midway International Airport was closed after three technicians tested positive for coronavirus.
The Las Vegas tower is being cleaned and the FAA is determining how many controllers will need to self-isolate.
