Travellers fume as technical problems ground flights in US

A traveller looks at the board of delayed and cancelled flights in the Southwest Airlines terminal at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Hundreds of flights in the US northwest were grounded by a 'technical glitch'. Rob Carr / Getty Images / AFPShow less

WASHINGTON // Technical problems at an air traffic control centre in Virginia left passengers fuming as hundreds of flights to and from airports throughout a large swath of northeastern US were delayed or cancelled.

Miller Roberts of Dallas was trying to fly from Baltimore to Kansas City to set up a robotics display at the Missouri State Fair but was caught in a flight delay for more than four hours.

Mr Roberts, 40, said he boarded a Southwest Airlines flight Saturday that was supposed to take off at 10am (6pm UAE), but he was still sitting on the plane, waiting after 2pm But he said his fellow passengers were taking the delay in stride.

“I think everyone realises this is out of our control,” he said.

The FAA blamed the problem on “technical issues” at an air traffic control centre in Leesburg, Va. Around 4pm, the agency said the problem had been resolved, and that officials were working to lift any remaining orders to hold planes on the ground.

Delays began building about 9.45am, according to FlightRadar24. Flights bound for airports in the Washington area were some of the most affected, including Washington's Reagan National Airport and Dulles International, as well as Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

By midafternoon, 50 per cent of inbound flights and 42 per cent of outbound flights had been cancelled at Reagan National, and delays were averaging about three hours, according to FlightRadar24. In Baltimore, 58 per cent of inbound flights and 36 of outbound flights had been cancelled, and delays were averaging over an hour.

Flights departing from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and John F Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York that normally flight over the Washington region as they head southward were also affected, although the FAA had said it was trying to route the flights around the affected area.

FAA officials said in a statement that the snarl was the result of an “automation problem” at the Leesburg centre. The centre handles high-altitude air traffic for the affected region. The problem wasn’t believed to be caused by any accident or hacking.

Information posted online by the FAA indicated there was a problem with the En Route Automation Modernization computer system, also known as ERAM, at the Leesburg centre.

The FAA finished installing the troubled computer system in the last of 20 high-altitude traffic control centres earlier this year. The completion was years behind schedule.

“The FAA is continuing its root cause analysis to determine what caused the problem,” the agency said in a statement.

Kate Smith, of Bethesda, Maryland, was sitting on a JetBlue plane at Boston’s Logan International Airport, trying to get home to her two cats after a holiday in Boston and Maine. Her flight was supposed to leave at 12.45pm, but the delays persisted by 2.30pm.

The pilot first announced the plane would be able to take off and fly at a lower altitude. But later, the pilot said there were too many flights at the lower altitudes and they would have to wait.

Smith said JetBlue was keeping passengers comfortable by providing snacks and drinks.

By 9.30pm general arrival and departure delays were 15 minutes or less, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Flight Delay Information site. The information on the site reports general airport conditions and is not flight-specific.

* Asscociated Press