Absolutely no idea which forum to put this in, so if not in the correct place mods, put me in it. I've always wondered what happens to airport operations immediately following an aircraft mishap? Obviously, if it crashes on the main runway, that runway is closed down but what happens to aircraft that were on final and approach behind it? What about aircraft that are at the gate awaiting departure?

On approach........... diverted to their alternate
Awaiting departure... delayed or cancelled

When the FAA reopens the airport and airspace, flights start up again

Who pays for all of the lost revenue of the airlines that are grounded? Hopefully not the grounded airlines because that seems kinda unfair. Would insurance pay for it?

No one pays.. it's lost revenue. Part of doing business.

Quoting c5load (Reply 2): Would insurance pay for it?

If they have insurance for that, sure. But otherwise, they eat the losses, same as in bad weather. Stuff happens.

-Mir

At LAX when we had the US Airways/Skywest crash in 1991, the airport essentially continued operations.

Carriers located on the Southside of the airport came and went like nothing happened, while carriers on the Northside were restricted with some closed taxiways and one of the runways.

Its was kinda odd having two smoldering plane grave yard sites just sitting there with the activity around it continuing.