The FAA closes the Jacksonville Control Center for the second time in 10 days

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The federal air traffic control center in Hilliard, which controls airspace throughout North Florida and South Georgia, was closed again on Wednesday afternoon – the second time the center has been closed this year.

The closure – which will last from 16: 20-18: 30 – comes after another employee tested positive for COVID-19. At that time, the planes were directed around the airspace or handled by the underlying installations. The installation will be thoroughly cleaned before reopening.

All flights traveling from north to south to Miami will travel in a single line of file along the Atlantic coast and will remain at the same altitude until they reach Atlanta airspace. All flights traveling south will do the same, but along the Gulf Coast

Flights scheduled to travel across the Gulf Coast to Florida from places like Texas and Louisiana will have to fly at much lower altitudes, which means burning more fuel, which is why some airlines may choose to simply cancel those flights.

As of 5:10 p.m., several flights to and from Jacksonville International Airport were delayed from a few minutes to three hours.

Wednesday’s closure was announced in a tweet from JAX.

Earlier today, the FAA said staff working on the facility tested positive on June 22, 25, 26, July 8, 9, 21, September 22, November 19, 28, December 17 and January 3.

When this happened last week, Aviation News4Jax expert Ed Booth called the closure “totally unprecedented.”

“It’s been open for 80 years now,” Booth said. “And as far as I know and I’ve been flying here for 43 years, it hasn’t closed in those 80 years. So this is a historic event. ”

An FAA spokesman said the Hilliard facility covers panhandle flights to Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. It also covers flights to southeast Georgia and South Carolina.