HomeNewsLocal

Lambert terminals busy today with first flights, more cleanup

Share |
Lambert terminals busy today with first flights, more cleanup
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size
Lambert St. Louis International Airport reopens
buy this photo
loading Loading…
  • Lambert St. Louis International Airport reopens
  • Lambert St. Louis International Airport reopens
  • Airport damage
  • Airport damage

(16) More Photos

Related Video

Lambert security video: Concourse C (updated)
Lambert security video: Concourse C (updated)
Footage of a tornado hitting Concourse C at the airport on April 22, 2011.

Related Stories

Related Links

More

Updated at 5:20 p.m.

All but one of the airlines serving Lambert-St. Louis International Airport will be up and running Monday, and flight schedules should be near 85 percent of normal, airport leaders said this afternoon.

Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said clean up had progressed quickly following Friday's tornado. Workers repaired roof leaks, pushed twisted metal and tree limbs into piles, and boarded up dozens of broken windows in at least five of the main terminal's arching front facades.

"We're fairly satisfied with what's going on today," Hamm-Niebruegge said at an afternoon press conference.

Parking lots, however, were still covered in glass, leaves, tree branches and twisted metal. The wind had blown out windows in row after row of cars. Phone chargers, gym bags, soccer cleats, laundry and even a disassembled bicycle lay inside, open to the weekend's rain.

David Appel, 43, from O'Fallon, Ill., was taping plastic sheeting over his white truck's passenger windows. He had been in Phoenix with his brother for his grandfather's funeral.

Their Friday night flight home was cancelled, and they eventually flew into Indianapolis, where they rented a car and drove. But he didn't expect to see the damage in the parking lots. The tornado had picked up broken glass and pelted it against the cars, driving the glass shards into the paint, leather seats, and even plastic consoles and armrests.

"It could be worse," Appel said, nodding down the row, where a blue SUV had been picked up and leaned up against the car next to it.

In the terminals, nearly everyone talked about the unexpected twists and turns of their weekend travels. Many told of flying into other Midwestern cities, and driving. Others were just arriving after two days of delays.

Mike Deering, 54, of St. Charles, was picking up his wife, who had flown in from Charlotte Sunday. On Friday night, her original flight had been in the air, 10 minutes from St. Louis, and had been turned around, sent back to Charlotte.

--

Updated at 11:15 a.m.

As the first departing flights from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport resumed this morning, airport officials now say they expect to be operating at 60 percent of their full schedule today.

Officials are urging travelers to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information.

Concourse C, which was heavily damaged by Friday's tornado, remains closed.

Frontier Airlines and AirTran are now operating out of the B Concourse. American Airlines and Cape Air have moved into the once-closed D Concourse. American is not planning to restart operations until Monday morning and Cape Air on Tuesday.

MetroLink is operating at the airport as well.

ST. LOUIS • Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is expected to be back in business Sunday — but not at full strength.

Buoyed by a massive cleanup effort after Friday night's destructive tornado strike, Lambert officials said they expected flights to return to Terminal 2 and in Concourse A of the more heavily damaged Terminal 1.

"As you see, we're not going to have the prettiest airport" Sunday, said Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge. "But we will have an operating airport. And that's a really good thing for us."

Four Southwest Airlines flights landed at the airport Saturday. Other carriers are ferrying in planes to resume service.

The scope of air service restored to Terminal 1 — the main terminal — will be limited by the return of power to the airport and the ability of the airlines to resume their normal flight activities, Hamm-Niebruegge said. Some service may not be resumed until Monday.

Ameren Missouri Chief Executive Tom Voss said the utility expected to begin restoring electrical service to Lambert by early Saturday night.

Wes Browning, the National Weather Service meteorologist in charge of the St. Louis area, said the tornado that slammed into Lambert about 8:15 p.m. Friday had weakened slightly after ripping through Bridgeton at EF4 strength. (EF5 is the strongest.)

Concourse C of Terminal 1 had the most damage. The airlines that run out of it — American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Air Tran and Cape Air — will have to be moved elsewhere in the airport.

Hamm-Niebruegge said those airlines would probably go to Concourse B or D, which are not currently in use.

Concourse A in that terminal should be operational by Sunday. Terminal 2, often termed the East Terminal, is where all of the Southwest Airlines flights run. It had some damage but was fully functional. Between those two, officials say the airport will reach 70 percent capacity.

Southwest Airlines canceled all of its flights in and out of Lambert on Saturday.

Southwest had six planes on the ground when the storm hit, and one of the Boeing 737s was damaged when the wind pushed a belt loader into it. An American Airlines 757 was grounded when the wind pushed a jet bridge into its nose cone and a piece of flying tin pierced its tail.

Airport crews worked through the night to clear the tornado damage. By Saturday morning, they were still cleaning shards of glass from the frames of windows that had been blown out. Numerous windows were boarded with plywood.

Early Saturday, a handful of troops gathered in the USO lounge, waiting to move out.

Sgt. Mark Holmquist, who is based at Fort Leonard Wood, was en route to Maine but instead worked Saturday with some soldiers to help them catch Greyhound buses to their next assignments. One of them was Army Spc. Stephanie Santoyo, who was on a plane bound for Dallas-Fort Worth when the tornado struck.

"Debris was flying around everywhere," she recalled. "It was a little bit of a rush. Some people were panicking on the plane."

Santoyo planned to catch a bus to Chicago and then to Dallas, and then on to Arizona.

Travelers are encouraged to call their air carriers for updates about their flights.

DAMAGE IN MILLIONS

Rich Bradley, president of the city's Board of Public Service, said that it was too early to provide an accurate damage estimate for the airport but that he expected the losses to be in the "millions of dollars range."

Bradley expects it to take up to two months to restore Concourse C.

Lambert officials said that the airport had contacted its insurance carriers and that the damage might force it to look for aid at the state or federal levels.

Some people at the airport when the tornado struck suffered injuries, most of them minor. Airport officials said five people were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Airlines went into a holding pattern as the storm passed. Some planes were held on the tarmac. Five planes were diverted to other airports. Hamm-Niebruegge said using MidAmerica Airport across the river in Mascoutah was not an option while flights were suspended on Saturday.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," she said. "Airlines aren't set up there."

Outside the passenger terminals, airport traffic signs were uprooted. Dozens of cars on the upper level of the parking garages had their windows smashed in the storm.

Hamm-Niebruegge said that a 1.2 million-gallon jet fuel tank farm was damaged but that it was not leaking or posing a danger. What will not be known until power is restored is whether the fuel pipeline to the airfield is working, she said. If not, fuel tankers may be called in to fuel commercial jets.

The last prolonged closure of the airport was after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officials said.

The last major weather-related closure was in 1995.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Comptroller Darlene Green took part in a tour Saturday afternoon of the heavily damaged Concourse C, where windows were blown out and a piece of roofing was peeled back near Gate C17.

The airport is in the midst of renovating that section of the concourse with new lights, ceiling panels and flooring.

"Lambert is our front door to the city, to the region," Slay said. "And having it in this condition hits home real hard."

Copyright 2012 stltoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Print Email

Sponsored Links

most popular



St. Louis Coupons: Get fantastic deals — up to 80% off — sent to your e-mail. Sign up today!
Xenon International Academy - Only $13 for a spa pedicure from Xenon International Academy! (A $26 value!)

Deals, Offers and Events

Dean Team Automotive - Subaru
Dean Team Automotive - Subaru
Dean Team Automotive - Subaru
Haynes Waterproofing & Foundation Repair
Foundation Bowing Or Cracking?
Haynes Waterproofing & Foundation Repair
Bommarito Honda Of Hazelwood
Bommarito Honda - 0% APR
Bommarito Honda Of Hazelwood
Lighthouse Dental
20% OFF coupon for existing customers!
Lighthouse Dental
Canine Life Skills
Giving away a free Adventure Hounds tee shirt when you join our Adventure Hounds outings around St. Louis!!!
Canine Life Skills