ANZEIGE
A regional air traffic control system outage sharply limited flights around much of northern Europe Friday, causing delays for some 700 flights.
The outage at the Maastricht, Netherlands, radar facility of the continent's Eurocontrol system lasted about an hour and a half, Eurocontrol spokeswoman Lucia Pasquini said.
Delays across the region were expected to last until 1700 GMT (1 p.m. EDT), she added.
Eurocontrol estimated that 700 flights would be affected in total and delays were expected to add up to 15,000 to 20,000 minutes, Ms. Pasquini said.
However, an online map of flights at 1430 GMT (10:30 a.m. EDT) showed delays of around 45 minutes for 1,036 flights landing, taking off from, or transiting Holland, northern and western Germany and parts of Belgium and Luxembourg.
The problem in the radar facility halted flights above 7,500 metres, said Axel Raab, spokesman for German air traffic control.
Pilots could choose to fly at lower altitude, although that airspace could clog quickly, Mr. Raab said.
The Maastricht facility handles around 5,500 flights a day.
The system suffered “equipment problems†at about 1250 GMT, started recovering gradually about half an hour later and was back to full capacity at 1430 GMT, Ms. Pasquini said. The Eurocontrol spokeswoman did not know what caused the problem.
Normally, when air traffic is under radar control, the distance between planes at any given flight level is five nautical miles.
Radar failures cause delays because they force air traffic controllers to increase the separation between planes up to five minutes, or about 40 nautical miles, thus reducing flow through the affected air space.
Nearly 30,000 flights were using European airspace Friday. Officials in Britain, Poland, Austria, Italy and the Baltic countries said their airspace was not affected.
Air-traffic control glitch cuts European flights - The Globe and Mail
Irgendwelche Flugverspaetungen festgestellt?
The outage at the Maastricht, Netherlands, radar facility of the continent's Eurocontrol system lasted about an hour and a half, Eurocontrol spokeswoman Lucia Pasquini said.
Delays across the region were expected to last until 1700 GMT (1 p.m. EDT), she added.
Eurocontrol estimated that 700 flights would be affected in total and delays were expected to add up to 15,000 to 20,000 minutes, Ms. Pasquini said.
However, an online map of flights at 1430 GMT (10:30 a.m. EDT) showed delays of around 45 minutes for 1,036 flights landing, taking off from, or transiting Holland, northern and western Germany and parts of Belgium and Luxembourg.
The problem in the radar facility halted flights above 7,500 metres, said Axel Raab, spokesman for German air traffic control.
Pilots could choose to fly at lower altitude, although that airspace could clog quickly, Mr. Raab said.
The Maastricht facility handles around 5,500 flights a day.
The system suffered “equipment problems†at about 1250 GMT, started recovering gradually about half an hour later and was back to full capacity at 1430 GMT, Ms. Pasquini said. The Eurocontrol spokeswoman did not know what caused the problem.
Normally, when air traffic is under radar control, the distance between planes at any given flight level is five nautical miles.
Radar failures cause delays because they force air traffic controllers to increase the separation between planes up to five minutes, or about 40 nautical miles, thus reducing flow through the affected air space.
Nearly 30,000 flights were using European airspace Friday. Officials in Britain, Poland, Austria, Italy and the Baltic countries said their airspace was not affected.
Air-traffic control glitch cuts European flights - The Globe and Mail
Irgendwelche Flugverspaetungen festgestellt?
