Bug causes US air traffic delays

Officials said they had not lost contact with any flights in the air Air traffic at some three dozen airports across the US has been disrupted by a computer glitch, the Federal Aviation Administration says. The network problem hit an FAA flight plan processing facility near Atlanta, Georgia, leaving a hub in Salt Lake City to handle data for the entire US. The FAA said air safety was not affected and it retained contact with thousands of airborne flights. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no link to terrorism. The network glitch began at about 1330 local time (1930 GMT), triggering delays at airports coast-to-coast. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen in Atlanta said: "There will be flight delays. It could be any location, because one facility is now processing flight data for everybody." The problem would be fixed by Tuesday evening, the FAA told Reuters news agency. Airports in Boston, Baltimore, Charlotte, Atlanta and Chicago were facing major delays, some because of weather, the FAA said. Flights to and from Washington, Miami, Cleveland and Houston were reported to be unaffected.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7583314.stm