Passengers with tickets to fly out of Hays on Saturday afternoon were disappointed. They were ready to travel and were told the flights were cancelled. Some passengers were reportedly told of “mechanical problems.” Were these mechanical problems with airplanes or snow removal equipment?

Chuck Howell, a spokesperson for Great Lakes Corporate Office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, told Hays Post, ”The reason the flights were cancelled was due to a 4’ snow bank adjacent to taxi ways” Howell said their airplanes had difficulty with the snow banks at Hays Regional Airport in the past and had been notified early Saturday of large piles of snow. He did not know why local Great Lakes staff were not informed.  Tyler, who answers the phone for Great Lakes at Hays Regional Airport told Hays Post on Saturday that the flights were cancelled because runways were not clean. Great Lakes reservation agents on Saturday were still booking flights out of Hays. They had not been informed that flights were cancelled.

There were other flights in and out of Hays Regional Airport this weekend. “Randall Buchanan with Hays Aircraft told Hays Post that those flights were private aircraft, late in the day on Saturday. The smaller private aircraft have the right to use runways if they believe it is clean enough to use and the airport is not officially closed,” he said.

Commercial aircraft are required to follow different rules and flight regulations than smaller aircraft. Hays Public Works Director ID Creech told Hays Post in an email that Public Works Crews were scheduled to do work at the airport on Saturday.  Stay tuned to Eagle Radio and check back to Hays Post for more information as it becomes available.