Flights canceled due to FAA staffing shortage, equipment outages

Alaska Airlines canceled flights to Nome and Kotzebue last week due to staffing issues at the FAA’S Flight Service Station, or FSS, and weather reporting system equipment not reporting visibility conditions.
Tim Thompson with Alaska Airlines confirmed that three passenger flights and two freighters for Nome were cancelled, as well as a flight for Kotzebue “due to FAA staffing and equipment (ASOS) issues with the National Weather Service. This forced us to cancel flights per FAA regulations for part 121 carriers,” he wrote in an email to the Nugget.
Sources close to the Nome airport said on background that the Nome FAA’s FSS office has been unstaffed for about a week. The Nugget has been unable to independently verify the information as phone messages with request for comment were not returned of press time
Without an on the ground FSS employee to confirm weather conditions and without a fully working weather reporting system, commercial aircraft cannot fly into communities.  
Alaska Climate Specialist Rick Thoman confirmed that the visibility sensor on the Automated Surface Observing System, or ASOS, was intermittently not reporting during the period of June 2 through 4. 

This is a developing story. We will provide updates as they become available.