Heavy fog causes flight delays at LAX

Thick coastal fog delayed 19 arriving flights at Los Angeles International Airport, causing minor delays for passengers at the start of the busy Thanksgiving travel week.

The incoming planes were delayed an average of 24 minutes Monday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. Some departing flights were also delayed by about 15 minutes because of poor visibility.

“The controllers can’t see a lot of the air field, so they have to slow down traffic as a precaution,” Gregor said.

The fog lifted by midmorning Tuesday and there were no additional delays at LAX or other local airports, Gregor said.

The FAA spokesman initially reported that fog had shut down one of two runways for arriving planes, but he later said that was an error and the closure was due to maintenance.

Earlier Monday, fog was blamed for delays at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, about 15 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It prevented 12 planes from landing Sunday night for a Monday morning turnaround, leaving scores of passengers stranded, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

“It was quite severe,” Gill said. “The runway is 400 feet from my office window, and I couldn’t see it.”

Several flights also were diverted from Santa Monica Airport on Monday and some were delayed at San Diego International Airport, said Gregor, noting that operations returned to normal later in the day.

A software problem disrupted radio communications at both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport control towers early Monday, delaying flights by as much as an hour, but airport spokesman Ken Capps said the problem was repaired after about 30 minutes.