Pipeline leak disrupts SEA Airport journey as Thanksgiving rush begins

SEATAC, Wash. — Crews are racing to restore a leaking oil pipeline that provides jet gas to SEA Airport, simply as Thanksgiving journey reaches its peak.

The pipeline shutdown has pressured airways to regulate, with some long-haul flights now making further stops to refuel, inflicting delays for vacationers.

Delta passenger Andy Lawson shared his expertise: “We are flying to Atlanta. We are going to stop in Salt Lake instead of the direct flight we initially had. We are gonna stop in Salt Lake and refuel, and it’s going to delay us about an hour.”

He and two different vacationers heading to Boston instructed KOMO News their flight would cease in Spokane earlier than heading to Boston. Each of them obtained a textual content notification from Delta.

The Olympic Pipeline, which usually feeds the airport’s gas farm, sprung a leak two weeks in the past, resulting in its shutdown. As a end result, airways are both making pit stops for gas or trucking it to SEA Airport, a logistical problem.

David Karavelnikoff, touring to Laredo, Texas, for a particular ceremony, stated, “We just got an Alaska Airlines notification that our flight was delayed. It’s a little bit of an inconvenience because we have dinner reservations in Texas, so we might be late for our dinner reservations.”

SEA Airport spokesperson Perry Cooper assured vacationers, “There is not going to be a situation where you show up at the terminal standing at the gate and half an hour before we can’t take off, no fuel. That’s not going to happen. You are going to know before you get here whether your flight is going to happen.”

Cooper stated how to reply to the gas problem is as much as airways, Sea-Tac’s position is to supply buyer care throughout their vacation journey expertise. He pointed to varied adjustments to assist vacationers this vacation week together with a parking grace interval.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson issued an emergency proclamation Wednesday to permit drivers to work longer hours to move jet gas to the Port of Seattle till the pipeline shutdown ends. Despite the disruptions, Cooper famous that no cancellations on Monday have been linked to the pipeline problem.