1 / 2

A diagram of expected runway construction at the Provo Airport set to happen in September.

Courtesy Provo City

2 / 2

Passengers board the first flight for Breeze Airways out of the Provo Airport on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

❮ ❯

As summer winds down after Labor Day, students are settling into the new school year, construction projects are being hurried before the winter slowdown, and airlines are experiencing their usual travel slumps until the holidays.

Add to that, locally, commercial flights at the Provo Airport were halted Tuesday and will not be flying out of Provo through Sept. 18 for runway upgrades in preparation for the next airport expansion.

Nicole Martin, Provo’s information officer, said the work will be done to accommodate reconstruction of four connector taxiways adjacent to the main runway.

The north Taxiway Alpha reconstruction project includes the complete reconstruction of approximately 5,000 feet of the northern portion of Taxiway Alpha, the main taxiway at the Provo Airport.

“The construction project, which began on May 15 and (is) scheduled to be completed in October, has been strategically phased to minimize interruption to operations at the airport,” Martin said.

Commercial and general aviation flight operations will be largely unaffected during the construction process. However, Phase 4 of the project includes the reconstruction of four connector taxiways, requiring a full runway closure due to FAA safety regulations.

Normal operations are scheduled to return on Sept. 19. Both commercial airlines using the airport — Breeze Airways and Allegiant Air — agreed to cooperate.

“Hypothetically, we would have had 42 departures during that time, but we were notified early enough we never scheduled flights then,” said Ryne Williams, public information officer with Breeze.

“The Provo Airport closure is one we have known about for quite some time. We worked in conjunction with (Provo Airport) to choose a time frame for the construction that is traditionally a low flying time in order to minimize the impact to our customers. As such, we had ample time to prepare and were able to adjust our schedule accordingly and did not have to cancel any flights,” said Rachel Christiansen, Allegiant Air communications manager.

Newsletter