US airports back to normal after computer problem fixed - Flights Airport News

Airport news for Flights on 28/08/2008.

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A glitch affecting the computer system used for filing all flight plans in the eastern U.S. was discovered on Tuesday evening this week, which ended up delaying hundreds of flights across the country, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was quick to say that there was no terrorism link to the computer system problem, and the FAA added that its ability to track aircraft in flight was not impacted.

A spokesperson for the FAA, Laura Brown, reported that the problem was resolved about four and a half hours later, at 6:00 pm Atlanta time. In the interim, flight plans were processed by the other flight plan filing center in Salt Lake City.

The agency estimated that "hundreds" of flights across the U.S., from Dallas and Chicago in the mid-section of the country to the east coast, were delayed by the system breakdown. Brown added that the FAA would not have a full count of the number of flights affect until some time on Wednesday.

"There were some airports that were affected more than others," she continued, noting that the airports impacted most significantly included Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago.

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