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Saturday, 17 June, 2000, 11:40 GMT 12:40 UK

Computer glitch hits UK flights

Flights out of Gatwick are being delayed by up to two hours

Flights across the UK have been disrupted as staff at National Air Traffic Services attempt to fix a major problem with the computer handling all planes flying into UK airspace.

British Airways said it had cancelled 10 flights to Europe following the computer breakdown and all its flights in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick were delayed by two hours.

Computer problems at Heathrow will affect flights to and from the UK The glitch at the West Drayton air traffic control centre near Heathrow developed at 1000 GMT on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for NATS said: "The problem is very rare and could cause major disruption.

"It surrounds what are known as flight strips which contain all the information about a plane's course. Staff are now having to manually retrieve the information and pass it to controllers.

"We are desperately trying to sort it out.

"Flights are being grounded at their origin so we can cut down on the number of aircraft in the sky and manage them in the most safe and effective way."

Cheryl Monk, a spokeswoman for Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport, said: "We do not know the extent of the problem yet, but it is going to have a serious impact.

"There is a marked reduction in the amount of traffic coming in and out of the airport. There are going to be diversions to other airports."

Aircraft which normally arrive and depart every 90 seconds were coming and going every three minutes, she added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_795000/795013.stm

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 17, 2000

Answers

June 17th COMPUTER GLITCH HITS UK FLIGHTS

Thousands of air passengers were left stranded for up to five hours as computer experts raced to resolve a glitch in the computer system of air traffic controllers.

All flights leaving and entering UK airspace were affected as the PC bug scrambled data on the course of hundreds of flights. The problem has now been fixed but the backlog of flights is still causing severe disruptions at airports across Britain. Airport bosses are urging passengers to check with their airline before turning up for a scheduled flight.

The Association of British Travel Agents said the problem had caused a "nightmare" for holidaymakers.

Heathrow Airport, just outside London, has had to divert craft to other airports since the glitch was first spotted at 10am on Saturday.

British Airways has cancelled at least 10 flights at Heathrow and 16 at Gatwick where passengers were being delayed by anything up to five hours.

Heathrow said flights that normally arrive and depart every 90 seconds were now coming and going every three minutes.

Cheryl Monk, airport spokesman said: "We do not know the extent of the problem yet, but it is going to have a serious impact.

"There is a marked reduction in the amount of traffic coming in and out of the airport. There are going to be diversions to other airports."

Several hundred people were stranded at Belfast International Airport where flights to Florida were delayed by five hours. "The majority of flights have a three-and-a-half to four-hour delay, and five hours for the Florida flight but things are starting to move again," said BIA marketing director, Natalie Raper.

"We're doing our best to give everyone as much information as possible and make them as comfortable as possible."

Birmingham Airport seemed to fare somewhat better with delays of only 20  30 minutes according to an airport spokesman.

http://www.sky.com/news/uk/story2.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 17, 2000.

Note this is the second time in a week.

June 17th THOUSANDS GROUNDED AFTER FLIGHT COMPUTER CRASHES

British airports were slowly getting back to normal on Saturday evening after a key computer at air traffic control broke down, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

The computer is based at the West Drayton air traffic control centre near Heathrow,which handles all flights entering UK airspace.It was the second time in a week that the programme collapsed.

Air traffic controllers were forced to write out crucial flight information slips by hand as senior officers struggled to cope with the backlog of planes.

Among those stranded for more than three hours at Heathrow were All Saints star Melanie Blatt and actress Samantha Janus.(above)Football legend Sir Bobby Charlton was also forced to go home and watch the big match on tv because his flight to Belgium was going to leave too late.

Standstill

Heathrow and Gatwick were worst hit, but the delays spread to Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast.

In Scotland, thousands of passengers were delayed as around 100 flights at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen Airports were affected.

The Association of British Travel Agents said the problem had caused a "nightmare" for holidaymakers.

Environmental manager Phil Flowers, from Wednesbury, West Midlands, who was forced to wait hours for his flight to Johannesburg, said: "I can't believe a computer failure has brought one of the world's busiest airports to a standstill."

Budget operator easyJet cancelled all its flights for the day, instead offering disgruntled customers refunds or alternative flights. Bosses at easyJet blamed a "further failure in air traffic operating systems"

As airport bosses demanded an investigation Deborah Monk, a spokeswoman for the National Air Traffic Control Services said:"This problem is very rare. We are determined to get to the bottom of it to make sure it never happens again.We are sorry for the delays. It is just as inconvenient to us as it is to everyone else.

"Safety was never an issue. Our controllers still had radar and radio contact with aircraft. We have back-up systems for everything, but they are slower and that means delays."

http://www.sky.com/news/uk/story2.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 17, 2000.