diff --git a/doc/releases/1.16.1dev.rst b/doc/releases/1.16.1dev.rst
index fe68fc7496..7a37b14fd2 100644
--- a/doc/releases/1.16.1dev.rst
+++ b/doc/releases/1.16.1dev.rst
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ Under-the-hood Improvements
 Bug Fixes
 ---------
 
-- None
+- Allow for empty 2D wavecal solution in HDU extension of WaveCalib file
 
diff --git a/pypeit/wavecalib.py b/pypeit/wavecalib.py
index d297afa160..4e576ee53f 100644
--- a/pypeit/wavecalib.py
+++ b/pypeit/wavecalib.py
@@ -217,7 +217,8 @@ def from_hdu(cls, hdu, chk_version=True, **kwargs):
         # Parse all the WAVE2DFIT extensions
         # TODO: It would be good to have the WAVE2DFIT extensions follow the
         # same naming convention as the WAVEFIT extensions...
-        wave2d_fits = [fitting.PypeItFit.from_hdu(hdu[e], chk_version=chk_version)
+        wave2d_fits = [fitting.PypeItFit() if len(hdu[e].data) == 0 
+                            else fitting.PypeItFit.from_hdu(hdu[e], chk_version=chk_version)
                             for e in ext if 'WAVE2DFIT' in e]
         if len(wave2d_fits) > 0:
             d['wv_fit2d'] = np.asarray(wave2d_fits)