A fire that broke at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue a temporary ground stop on all United Airlines flights to IAH airport.
Houston Airport is a major hub for United Airlines, where it has been operating for 70 years.
The fire broke out in the airport’s employee laundry room, located in Terminal C, at around 04:00 local time on February 5, 2023.
According to local media ABC13, United Airlines asked the FAA for a temporary ground stop on incoming flights at 05:30 so that the airline could assess the impact. Outbound flights were not affected.
In total, the ground stop delayed 23 incoming United Airline flights.
The FAA issued the ground stop shortly before 05:30 local time and lifted it at about 07:00.
Firefighters from the Houston Fire Department responded to the fire and evacuated all employees.
“There’s a whole lot of damage from the smoke and the heat. There’s not a whole lot of fire damage because it seemed like a small fire that spread over time,” a spokesman for the Houston Fire Department told ABC News.
There are no reports of injury or damage to the airport terminal.