Planes are grounded at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Mich., Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, which was closed for hours. (Photo: AP)
Detroit’s main airport has reopened after icy weather prompted officials to shut down flights for about 14 hours amid freezing rain.
A statement from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus says it reopened midmorning Wednesday after being closed about 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration says some arriving flights are expected to be delayed an average of 5 hours.
The shutdown stranded travelers, with dozens of flights Tuesday night and more Wednesday canceled or delayed.
Maintenance crews had been treating taxiways and runways at the airport leading up to the shutdown, but deicing fluid became diluted and ineffective. The airport says one runway reopened to start and others were opening later.
Icy roadways led to crashes. Hundreds of Michigan schools closed Wednesday, including Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College.
