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Indeed, it could have been chaos and 7News was at the airport to see how things got out of hand - and how the Civil Aviation Department got it back in control. Jules Vasquez reports:..

Jules Vasquez reporting
The air traffic tower stood sentinel over the airport - but on Saturday morning, it was empty inside. The usually bustling airside of the airport was at standstill. While inside the airport terminal was full to overflowing - tourists just sitting around - They hadn't been told anything, not sure if they were coming or going, or when. The girls took the chance to sunbathe

Jules Vasquez
"It's a terrible way to end your vacation."

Tourist
"Not ideal, but we are catching sunrise. We were at Placencia and it was all cloudy, so at least we are getting some sun."

And while they were upbeat - most were tense:

Tourist, From Idaho
"Oh, we were standing in line there and they say the flight was delayed and then we discovered that I guess the folks here are on strike."

This tourist appointed himself an ad hoc spokesperson. The travelers were grateful for whatever information because they had nothing else to go on.

And airport security turned damage control into just plain damage:

Tourist
"It's been a kind of real inconvenience."

Airport Security
"Excuse me."

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"Sir, you can't just push the guy like that."

Airport Security
"Listen to what we got to say right. The media has to respect us, the same way we respect the media."

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"Sir, you can't just push a tourist."

Airport Security
"We say that whatever you people want to do, we have a procedure that we follow."

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"But you can't just push a tourist. It's disrespectful and unethical. You should allow to do the interview, rather than go through with that."

Airport Security
"I don't have anything to tell you all."

Nothing to tell anyone, pretty much.

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"Are you informed that the flight has been delayed?"

Tourist
"No."

Jules Vasquez
"Air Traffic Control strike. Did you guys know?"

Tourist
"No."

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"There has been a sickout and no flights moving right now."

Tourist
"Great."

Reporter
"What time was you flight?"

Tourist
"12:35."

Reporter
"What airline?"

Tourist
"American Airlines."

Reporter
"So, you haven't been notified that the airport has been shut down?"

Tourist
"No."

Jules Vasquez
"How will it affect you if you miss your connecting flight? You will be late for school or work or something?"

Tourist
"Yeah, probably be late for school. I am a student, so, I'll be late for school. My dad has to get back to work."

Jules Vasquez
"How much of it is an inconvenience for you and your family?"

Tourist
"I have 6 kids and it's an inconvenience for sure, but there's been worst inconveniences, but we like to get in there for sure."

Reporter
"Any plan B?"

Tourist
"Yeah, hop on a bus."

Tourist From San Francisco
"It's an inconvenience. When you travel you got to take these kinds of things and strive. I think Belize has taught me patience."

Tourist From Taiwan
"They say they cancel the flight. It means that we can't get the other flight from Los Angeles to Taipei. We hope that any government officer can tell us what's going on here."

What's going on was crisis management - the showrunners at the airport were huddling to get at least four persons in the tower.

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"Our priority right now is to get the planes that need to come on the ground and that is what we are dealing with. We are looking getting a qualified team of people up in the control tower, so we can have those planes landing and we will have to deal with the other issues later."

And they didn't know what the other issues are:

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"We have received no information regarding that matter Jules, no information why the sickout has happen."

Jules Vasquez
"The CEO of Civil Aviation, he didn't have any idea of what was happening. How can you not know that there is enough discontent to make two shifts of people sickout?"

Tracy Taegar-Panton, CEO- Ministry of Tourism
"As the director said, we have had several meetings with the Air Traffic Control Unit. Certainly, I have personally been involved in those meetings. Whatever concerns they have brought to the table, we have tried to address as best as we can. There was certainly no indication to me and to the office that there were any additional concerns that were not in the process of being addressed. So, I am myself are blindsided by this event and really unclear as to why they decided to take this action this morning. As you know they are considered essential services and there are repercussions for such actions to be taken and we will have to address the matter as soon as we are able to ascertain really what has caused this event."

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"The department certainly look at this as a very grave matter, because the country Belize is being affected by this action and the fact that we have not received anything or any specific demand is of concern to us."

And a concern to tourists as well:

Tourist
"I would think that this would not be a productive advertisement for Belize Tourism. Here we are coming down to Belize and now we can't get out. I would think that would have an adverse effect on people wanting to vacation in Belize."

Tracy Taegar-Panton, CEO- Ministry of Tourism
"We certainly apologize for the inconvenience that has been caused. There is a two hour delay or so, but we are doing the best that we can in a very difficult situation."

Domestic flights start come in at 11:00 - and the first jet would land at 1:00 pm.

To stabilize operations, the Civil Aviation Department immediately brought in two retired civil aviation officers on Saturday morning - and by noon, they got in three more from Central America who had trained in Belize. That crew worked all day on Saturday and Sunday. In fact on Sunday when three of the regular Air Traffic Controllers showed up - they were sent back home - reportedly by police who have taken up a presence at the Airport since the events of Saturday. They were told not to show up on work on Monday but to report instead to a meeting this afternoon at the Civil Aviation Department on the airport compound. That meeting started at 1:30. It finished at 4:30 and we spoke to the PSU industrial Relations Officer Ray Davis about it. First off, he said there was no sick out:..

Ray Davis, Industrial Relations Officer - PSU
"I am not even countenancing what has been said in the media about a sickout. There was no such thing as a sickout. There was what myself would called an unhappy convergence of coincidence, so those persons were not boycotting or doing anything like that to call attention to anything, and that was borne out quite well at the meeting there. So, we separated two issues; is there an issue of the sickout? No, there is not an issue of a sickout. All of that was explained in there. Then we went to the second stage which was okay: what are the issues that are lingering and no issues, if there were any and that is what we dealt with at the meeting."

Reporter
"For clarification, there will be no penalties levied against the traffic controllers that did not show up on Saturday?"

Ray Davis, Industrial Relations Officer - PSU
"Penalties? How do you have penalties if somebody is sick? Not showing up was not a deliberate action. These persons reported ill and there were compelling reasons for each of them that was asked individually. So, it's not an issue right now of people not turning up to work in some form of a protest or anything like that. They were sick. End of story - Punto finale. That's it."

Jules Vasquez
"Is that a story that you accept?"

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"It is what was told to us. It is impossible not to accept what was said. When one is in management, one has to be very careful, recognizing that there are certain rights and privileges that each and every public service worker has."

Jules Vasquez
"Everyone is back at work?"

Ray Davis, Industrial Relations Officer - PSU
"Everybody is back at work."

Jules Vasquez
"Feeling well."

Ray Davis, Industrial Relations Officer - PSU
"Those that still have outstanding sick leave or have their doctor paper, of course will be bringing in their doctor paper, but right now, as far as I know, the roster are being rework, so that who is to come on, come on."

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"Tomorrow regular activities will resume. We are very happy that we were able to sit down and have the kind of discussion we did and we are moving forward. We are not at present working with the optimum amount of people needed. We hired 6 people last June, we are prepared to proceed to hire another 9 and to continue bringing the air traffic control unit up to full strength as soon as it is possible."

Reporter
"Like that, you are accepting fault. If you do not have the number of workers that are required, because if you didn't require more, you wouldn't be looking at hiring more. Do you also accept that the equipment that these ATCs are working with may also not be up to standards and therefore also jeopardizes the safety of the entire operation?"

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"No I do not accept that the equipment is not up to standard. I accept and recognized that equipment from time to time will fail and there will be technical issues that needs to be addressed. I think that the mere fact that we have been working and working in an environment, free of accidents caused by anything done by the ATCs should be clear indication, that the equipment are functioning. Now, we live in a world of technology where there is always a need to upgrade equipment. Those equipment costs millions of dollars and we are certainly working as hard as possible to have those equipment upgraded and updated."

Jules Vasquez
"I have to ask specifically about material shortages: headsets, pens - sounds elementary, but this is something we received, that they are actually short of pens."

Lindsey Garbutt, Director of Civil Aviation
"In the case of the headsets, you cannot just go out and buy a headset. We paid for some new headsets in December. That will not be delivered until March. Costa Rica, had some extra headsets that they provided to us and that is what we are working with."

That press conference finished only an hour ago - and there were very many issues coming out of it - but due to time constraints we'll have more of it later on in the news.