PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — As we head into a busy travel weekend, there are no more flight cancellations expected at Pensacola International Airport.
Last week, an electrical fire took out the lights on one runway which caused delayed and cancelled flights after dark.
“It was a major casualty to the system..a pretty good fire,” Airport Director Matt Coughlin said. “We lost seven total flights due to cancellations out of 140.”
When the runway lights went out, the other runway was already closed for construction but the airport re-opened it early to keep flights going. An investigation continues to determine what started the fire.
“We don’t know the cause of it, whether it was lightning, it could be a host of other reasons but we’ll investigate that,” Coughlin said. “Our main purpose now it to get everything 100 percent.”
The Pensacola city council accepted more than $1 million in grant money Thursday night that will pay for runway guard lights.
“You’ll see these yellow lights flashing on the ground right across from you,” Coughlin said. “Those are runway guard lights. We don’t currently have them in Pensacola. It’s just one more mitigation, safety mitigation, for any errant pilot that may cross that line when he shouldn’t without the proper clearance.”
Coughlin said the lighting is at about 90 percent which is enough to not interfere with anyone’s flights this Memorial Day weekend.
