Thousands of air travellers at airports on the East Coast had their flights cancelled or delayed over the weekend, an incident that federal air safety regulators blamed on a technical problem at a Washington-area traffic control center.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that the problem was likely caused by a software upgrade as the agency acknowledged on Saturday problems with the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM), the computer system considered as the backbone of the country's airspace system.
The FAA said that the purpose of the upgrade was to provide more tools for air traffic controllers. The new features were disabled while the system contractor assessed the malfunction.
The agency confirmed of the problematic upgrade to this computer system on Sunday though it said that the issue is not associated with any inherent problems with ERAM.
"The FAA is focusing on a recent software upgrade at a high-altitude radar facility in Leesburg, VA as the possible source of yesterday's automation problems," the FAA said in a statement. "There is no indication that the problem is related to any inherent problems with the En Route Automation Modernization system, which had a greater than 99.99 availability rate since it was completed nationwide earlier this year."
Angry travelers whose flights were delayed or cancelled took to social media dubbing the malfunction as "Flypocalypse." Many complained that they were kept in the dark saying that FAA did not post anything on Twitter until the issue was fixed.
The FAA said that there have been 492 delays and 476 cancellations. For safety reasons, the FAA said it reduced the arrival and departure rates in the area between 11 AM to 4 PM resulting in about 70 percent of the average traffic at the Baltimore Washington International airport, 88 percent at the Washington Dulles International Airport and 72 percent at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Flights from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport as well as those departing from John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York were also affected.
The problem was fixed after several hours on Saturdays but the effect of the incident was still felt on Sunday as airports and connecting hubs continue to be affected by delays as shown by tracking data on FlightAware.
Airlines scrambled to resume to normal operations and rebook the passengers whose flights were cancelled on Saturday.
Photo: Sean MacEntee | Flickr
