https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...ional-flights-still-snarled-glitch/713653002/
Thousands of American Airlines fliers stranded after partner's meltdown
Today in the Sky
Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY Published 10:33 a.m. ET June 19, 2018 | Updated 8:27 a.m. ET June 20, 2018
LATEST UPDATE: American Airlines said on Wednesday that it's close to returning to normal operations after a week of heavy cancellations at one of its regional affiliates. A technical glitch that first hit American Eagle affiliate PSA Airlines on Thursday (June 14) has now resulted in about 2,800 cancellations, American says. (See the latest update here)
ORIGINAL POST: Thousands of American Airlines customers have had their travel plans disrupted because of a computer glitch at a regional affiliate that has dragged on for days.
American has apologized for the fault at its PSA Airlines subsidiary, but has warned disruptions were likely to continue for PSA-operated flights "over the next few days."
FLIGHT TRACKER: Is your flight on time?
All told, more than 1,100 flights have been canceled since Thursday (June 14) because of the problem, according to a Bloomberg News tally. American’s hub in Charlotte has shouldered the bulk of the disruption, though the carrier’s hubs at Philadelphia and Washington Reagan National also have been hit with glitch-related cancellations.
The issue is specific to American’s PSA regional carrier, which flies 50- to 76-seat regional jets that feed passengers to American’s hubs. The glitch is not affecting any of American’s “mainline” flights or flights on other partners, but passengers scheduled to connect to or from those flights via PSA might be affected if their connecting flights are canceled.
Social media feeds have lit up with complaints, with some American customers saying they’ve been stuck for days waiting for open seats after cancellations to their originally scheduled PSA fights.
"We do not know when this is going to be fixed," American spokeswoman Katie Cody told The Charlotte Observer, which covers American’s hardest-hit hub in Charlotte. "We're incredibly sorry."
“This could not happen at a worse possible time,” Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, added to the Observer, noting the disruption comes at the beginning of the peak summer travel season.
Lines ballooned at the Charlotte airport's car rental agencies as fliers looked for other ways to get to their destinations, according to the Observer. The newspaper added that American picked up the tab for about 800 hotel rooms for stranded passengers.
It was not clear exactly when things might return to normal for American customers whose itineraries include flights on PSA.
PSA's technical issue involved problems with its crew scheduling and tracking system, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
"We're having issues getting the crews assigned to the planes correctly," Cody said to the Observer on Monday.
American posted a formal statement to its website on Tuesday, saying the computer issue had been “stabilized” but that PSA schedules would be reduced this week to give more slack to the recovery effort.
PSA flies about 800 flights a day under American’s regional American Eagle brand, accounting for about 12% of American’s entire daily schedule.
The lingering problems forced PSA to cancel all of its flights Tuesday (June 19) morning “as it works through schedules, getting aircraft and crews where they need to be to resume operations,” American said in its statement.
“PSA will operate a reduced scheduled over the next few days as it restores full service,” American added.
The company also offered a formal apology to affected customers.
“We understand that these cancellations have been frustrating for our customers, and teams from PSA and American have been working around the clock to get things back to normal as quickly as possible,” American said in its statement, “We are rebooking passengers and American's Customer Relations department continues to reach out all affected customers. We encourage our customers traveling on PSA-operated flights over the next few days to check their flight status at aa.com or on the American Airlines app.”
This file photo from Oct. 31, 2015, show an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-900 regional jet at at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. (Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, special for USA TODAY)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ines-flight-delays-rise-after-computer-glitch
technology
Hundreds of Southwest Airlines Flights Delayed After Computer Glitch
By
Mary Schlangenstein
February 23, 2019, 12:44 AM GMT+8
The airline asked the Federal Aviation Administration to declare a “brief” ground stop after a glitch with software that automatically downloads flight plans to the agency, an FAA spokesman said in a statement. The delays represent about 15 percent of Southwest’s daily schedule, according to FlightAware. Flights also were affected by heavy fog in Dallas and by air traffic congestion in Houston.
The systems problem, which the Dallas-based airline said was resolved by about 5:30 a.m. local time, follows more than a week of increased flight delays caused by having more planes than normal out of service for mechanical issues. Southwest declared an “operational emergency” on Feb. 15, three days after the problem started, advising mechanics to show up to work as scheduled or risk losing their jobs.
On Friday, “the airline briefly suspended operations as teams worked to ensure performance of some of the airline’s software systems that were upgraded overnight,” Southwest said in a statement. The disruption lasted about 50 minutes, and resulting delays averaged 40 minutes, the airline said.
Weather, Maintenance
Southwest didn’t provide a number of delayed flights, but said none was canceled because of the computer system problem. About 80 flights have been scrubbed due to weather and the increased number of planes out of service, the airline said.
Southwest said Feb. 19 that it’s investigating the cause of the lingering flight disruptions, including any link to ongoing contract talks with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. The union has said Southwest is attempting to divert attention from safety issues with the claim.
The airline’s shares slid earlier this week after it reported that the federal government shutdown that ended in January -- and the lingering impact on demand -- would reduce first-quarter revenue by about $60 million. That compared with an earlier estimate of as much as $15 million for Jan. 1 through Jan. 23.
Revenue for each seat flown a mile will rise 3 percent to 4 percent this quarter, the carrier said. It previously projected that the closely watched measure of pricing power would increase 4 percent to 5 percent.
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/lo...-airlines-across-the-country-including-at-oia
Data glitch grounds airlines across the country, including at OIA
By Amanda McKenzie
Posted Apr 01 2019 11:25AM EDT
ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A data glitch that grounded airplanes across America forced major airlines to cancel and delay flights in cities like Orlando on Monday morning.
“Everyone is ready to go home,” Drake Horton said. And so is the rest of his family.
“We had a Southwest flight that we had booked, but unfortunately, it was canceled, so we ended up switching to an American Airlines flight,” Laura Horton said. “I’m not sure why. We didn’t really get a real explanation.”
The explanation played out over Twitter as thousands of frustrated fliers reached out to Southwest, Delta, American, JetBlue, Spirit and Frontier. The airlines were all impacted by an outage with the Aerodata system they use for flight planning.
“A neighbor across the street came and told us and we were so scared,” said Joyce Rheume, who is flying back to Canada.
The technical problem went on for almost an hour across the country, but the boards remained very red throughout the day as delays continued.
“I’m glad that they’re keeping us safe and if it’s an April Fool’s joke it’s not a good one,” Gail Mickler laughed.
There is no reason to believe the computer hiccup was an April Fool’s joke, but some travelers couldn’t help but chuckle about the coincidence.
Related Headlines
Fortunately, officials with the FAA said the problem was resolved quickly and planes were cleared for takeoff. However, delays may continue as officials said they could last throughout the day. They recommend travelers check with their airline before heading to the airport.
More Local News Stories
https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/...light-they-all-had-problems-this-morning.html
Flying on American, Southwest, United, JetBlue or Alaska Today? Check Your Flight. They All Had Problems This Morning
A computer system problem grounded flights across the country this morning.
By Bill Murphy Jr.Contributing editor, Inc.com
@BillMurphyJr
CREDIT: Getty Images
American, Southwest, United, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines, along with smaller regional carriers, were forced to ground flights across the United States this morning after a computer system error that affected many U.S. airlines.
The apparent problem, several airlines said, stemmed from a shared system that many airlines use -- rather than any kind of simultaneous problem encountered by multiple airlines on their individually operated computer systems.
Airline spokespeople at JetBlue and American Airlines both told me this morning that they put the blame on a system run by a company called Aerodata.
A Federal Aviation Administration official also told The Washington Post that the Aeroplan system tracks "weight and balance of a plane," and is also "used in flight planning."
While it appears that most if not all of the flights are now cleared, and the problem resolved, airlines said they expected delays would likely reverberate across their schedules today.
So if you're flying anywhere in the United States today on a U.S. carrier, it would be a good idea to check your flight's status before heading to the airport.
Earlier, Southwest had said it grounded all fights across the United States for about 40 minutes Monday morning.
"We're working with customers on any impacts to their travel plans and we appreciate their understanding as we place nothing higher than the safe operation of every flight," a spokesman said.
At Delta, it appeared the problem might have been confined largely to regional airlines operating as Delta Connection, although a spokesperson advised via USA Today, " If you're on a flight departing soon, please check the status of your flight via the Fly Delta Mobile App or Delta.com."
Some reports said that JetBlue was most heavily affected, and as of about 8:30 this morning, the company told me in an email that it was still experiencing delays. At one point, it appeared the airline had grounded all flights due to the issue.
It appears the computer problem has been resolved as of about 9:30 a.m., but airlines expected some residual delays throughout the day as they work to get back on schedule.
United Airlines said about 150 of its flights were affected Monday morning.
"Some of our regional carriers experienced an issue with a flight planning program this morning that impacted operations, resulting in delays for select United Express flights. Our team worked quickly with our partners to resolve the issue," a spokeswoman for United told me.
Alaska Airlines also reportedly had delays, but the company did not respond to my request for comment this morning.
Earlier reports -- for example when the FAA reported via Twitter at about 7:42 a.m. simply that "several U.S. airlines" were "experiencing computer issues this morning" -- led to some concerns that the problems might have been happening simultaneously on each airline's separate systems.
While there's no word on what caused the Aerodata issue, the good news here seems to be that there's nothing like a concerted attack on multiple airlines' systems--along with the fact that the airlines apparently responded quickly, and were able to resolve it all.
Published on: Apr 1, 2019
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/tran...irlines/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a6a7df6a8c3b
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Important breaking news alerts about D.C.-area transit issues, from the roads to the rails.
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Luz Lazo Luz Lazo is a transportation reporter at The Washington Post covering passenger and freight transportation, buses, taxis and ride-sharing services. She also writes about traffic, road infrastructure and air travel in the Washington region and beyond. She joined The Post in 2011. Follow
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Several major airlines grounded planes Monday morning across U.S. because of software problem
The software problem affected several airlines, including Southwest, Delta and JetBlue.
4 hours ago
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https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/...ts-over-4600-passenger-affected/#.XKJh0UNS-Kk
Software “Malfunction” Grounds More Than 46 Lufthansa Flights: Over 4,600 Passenger Affected
Mateusz Maszczynski
25th March 2019
Photo Credit: Lufthansa
A continuing software “malfunction” at Germany’s air traffic control (ATC) provider, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung has forced airlines to cancel dozens of flights today. The German flag carrier, Lufthansa has been worst affected with over 46 flights at its Frankfurt hub cancelled and the travel plans of more than 4,600 passengers impacted. The airport operator has warned of delays and cancellations, with scenes of long queues emerging from the airport.
The ATC agency says it has reduced capacity by as much as 25% around Frankfurt am Main, Cologne Bonn, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf. The software glitch first started last Thursday but DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung doesn’t think a fix will be found until at least Wednesday or possibly even Thursday 28th March.
In a statement, the agency said its technicians were “working hard to analyze the error.” The cause of the issue is the display of electronic control strips, which have stopped working properly. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung was keen to point out that all other ATC systems were working normally and that safety had not been compromised.
A spokesperson explained that the ‘control strips’ “provide scheduling information to air traffic controllers and contain all important data for the course of the flight, such as type of aircraft, route, expected time of flight and other information. In addition to the radar data presentation, they provide the pilot with the essential information for his inspection activities.”
Operations at Frankfurt Airport were hampered even further on Friday morning after a drone was sighted near the airfield. Flights had to be grounded for around 30 minutes before police gave the all-clear – the airport Tweeted that everything was back to normal and that the incident hadn’t caused any “chaos” as was the case after a drone incident at Gatwick Airport in December.
Lufthansa was also forced to cancel hundreds of flights at Frankfurt Airport in August after a security breach led to the partial evacuation of what is Germany’s busiest airport. On that occasion, Lufthansa said over 7,000 had been affected after a French family were accidentally allowed into a secure airside area without first going through security.
Last year, flight delays and cancellations caused mainly by ATC problems across Europe cost Lufthansa €513 million. The airline suspects similar problems this year, which were in part caused by widespread strikes by air traffic controllers in France and Belgium.
Mateusz Maszczynski
https://www.rt.com/usa/455261-airline-outage-delays-stranded/
System failure: Thousands of passengers stranded as software glitch grounds flights across the US
Published time: 1 Apr, 2019 13:05
Get short URL
FILE PHOTO: Travelers wait at LaGuardia Airport after flights were grounded in January © Reuters / Mike Segar
The outage involved Aerodata, a computer program that records a plane’s weight and balance information necessary to grant clearance for takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Without the computer-generated paperwork, planes stayed grounded across the country early on Monday morning.
At least five airlines were affected: Delta, Southwest, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue. All in all, 1,442 flights were delayed and 151 canceled, according to FlightAware. New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Boston’s Logan International Airport, and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were the three worst affected hubs.
Grounded passengers tweeted their frustrations at the airlines.
The glitch was later resolved, but lingering delays are expected as the airlines resume normal operations.
The outage comes a week after technical issues with Sabre, a company handling ticketing and reservations for at least 300 airlines and 100 airports, forced multiple carriers to delay flights as staff manually checked in passengers.
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Thousands of American Airlines fliers stranded after partner's meltdown
Today in the Sky
Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY Published 10:33 a.m. ET June 19, 2018 | Updated 8:27 a.m. ET June 20, 2018
LATEST UPDATE: American Airlines said on Wednesday that it's close to returning to normal operations after a week of heavy cancellations at one of its regional affiliates. A technical glitch that first hit American Eagle affiliate PSA Airlines on Thursday (June 14) has now resulted in about 2,800 cancellations, American says. (See the latest update here)
ORIGINAL POST: Thousands of American Airlines customers have had their travel plans disrupted because of a computer glitch at a regional affiliate that has dragged on for days.
American has apologized for the fault at its PSA Airlines subsidiary, but has warned disruptions were likely to continue for PSA-operated flights "over the next few days."
FLIGHT TRACKER: Is your flight on time?
All told, more than 1,100 flights have been canceled since Thursday (June 14) because of the problem, according to a Bloomberg News tally. American’s hub in Charlotte has shouldered the bulk of the disruption, though the carrier’s hubs at Philadelphia and Washington Reagan National also have been hit with glitch-related cancellations.
The issue is specific to American’s PSA regional carrier, which flies 50- to 76-seat regional jets that feed passengers to American’s hubs. The glitch is not affecting any of American’s “mainline” flights or flights on other partners, but passengers scheduled to connect to or from those flights via PSA might be affected if their connecting flights are canceled.
Social media feeds have lit up with complaints, with some American customers saying they’ve been stuck for days waiting for open seats after cancellations to their originally scheduled PSA fights.
#americanairlines will strand you in Charlotte having cancelled 600 flights since Tuesday. No rental cars...ppl have been stuck for days..don’t do it.
— Jacob Hennings (@HenningsJacob) June 16, 2018
— Jacob Hennings (@HenningsJacob) June 16, 2018
"We do not know when this is going to be fixed," American spokeswoman Katie Cody told The Charlotte Observer, which covers American’s hardest-hit hub in Charlotte. "We're incredibly sorry."
“This could not happen at a worse possible time,” Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, added to the Observer, noting the disruption comes at the beginning of the peak summer travel season.
Lines ballooned at the Charlotte airport's car rental agencies as fliers looked for other ways to get to their destinations, according to the Observer. The newspaper added that American picked up the tab for about 800 hotel rooms for stranded passengers.
It was not clear exactly when things might return to normal for American customers whose itineraries include flights on PSA.
PSA's technical issue involved problems with its crew scheduling and tracking system, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
"We're having issues getting the crews assigned to the planes correctly," Cody said to the Observer on Monday.
American posted a formal statement to its website on Tuesday, saying the computer issue had been “stabilized” but that PSA schedules would be reduced this week to give more slack to the recovery effort.
PSA flies about 800 flights a day under American’s regional American Eagle brand, accounting for about 12% of American’s entire daily schedule.
The lingering problems forced PSA to cancel all of its flights Tuesday (June 19) morning “as it works through schedules, getting aircraft and crews where they need to be to resume operations,” American said in its statement.
“PSA will operate a reduced scheduled over the next few days as it restores full service,” American added.
The company also offered a formal apology to affected customers.
“We understand that these cancellations have been frustrating for our customers, and teams from PSA and American have been working around the clock to get things back to normal as quickly as possible,” American said in its statement, “We are rebooking passengers and American's Customer Relations department continues to reach out all affected customers. We encourage our customers traveling on PSA-operated flights over the next few days to check their flight status at aa.com or on the American Airlines app.”
NEW: police have charged Kathy Irene Albright. Officers issued a criminal citation for damage to property. @wsoctvhttps://t.co/KCreXAV5hb
— Stephanie Tinoco (@STinocoWSOC9) June 19, 2018
— Stephanie Tinoco (@STinocoWSOC9) June 19, 2018
This file photo from Oct. 31, 2015, show an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-900 regional jet at at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. (Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, special for USA TODAY)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ines-flight-delays-rise-after-computer-glitch
technology
Hundreds of Southwest Airlines Flights Delayed After Computer Glitch
By
Mary Schlangenstein
February 23, 2019, 12:44 AM GMT+8
- Weather and airspace congestion is also affecting traffic
- Mechanical issues still keeping more planes out of service
The airline asked the Federal Aviation Administration to declare a “brief” ground stop after a glitch with software that automatically downloads flight plans to the agency, an FAA spokesman said in a statement. The delays represent about 15 percent of Southwest’s daily schedule, according to FlightAware. Flights also were affected by heavy fog in Dallas and by air traffic congestion in Houston.
The systems problem, which the Dallas-based airline said was resolved by about 5:30 a.m. local time, follows more than a week of increased flight delays caused by having more planes than normal out of service for mechanical issues. Southwest declared an “operational emergency” on Feb. 15, three days after the problem started, advising mechanics to show up to work as scheduled or risk losing their jobs.
On Friday, “the airline briefly suspended operations as teams worked to ensure performance of some of the airline’s software systems that were upgraded overnight,” Southwest said in a statement. The disruption lasted about 50 minutes, and resulting delays averaged 40 minutes, the airline said.
Weather, Maintenance
Southwest didn’t provide a number of delayed flights, but said none was canceled because of the computer system problem. About 80 flights have been scrubbed due to weather and the increased number of planes out of service, the airline said.
Southwest said Feb. 19 that it’s investigating the cause of the lingering flight disruptions, including any link to ongoing contract talks with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. The union has said Southwest is attempting to divert attention from safety issues with the claim.
The airline’s shares slid earlier this week after it reported that the federal government shutdown that ended in January -- and the lingering impact on demand -- would reduce first-quarter revenue by about $60 million. That compared with an earlier estimate of as much as $15 million for Jan. 1 through Jan. 23.
Revenue for each seat flown a mile will rise 3 percent to 4 percent this quarter, the carrier said. It previously projected that the closely watched measure of pricing power would increase 4 percent to 5 percent.
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/lo...-airlines-across-the-country-including-at-oia
Data glitch grounds airlines across the country, including at OIA
By Amanda McKenzie
Posted Apr 01 2019 11:25AM EDT
ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A data glitch that grounded airplanes across America forced major airlines to cancel and delay flights in cities like Orlando on Monday morning.
“Everyone is ready to go home,” Drake Horton said. And so is the rest of his family.
“We had a Southwest flight that we had booked, but unfortunately, it was canceled, so we ended up switching to an American Airlines flight,” Laura Horton said. “I’m not sure why. We didn’t really get a real explanation.”
The explanation played out over Twitter as thousands of frustrated fliers reached out to Southwest, Delta, American, JetBlue, Spirit and Frontier. The airlines were all impacted by an outage with the Aerodata system they use for flight planning.
“A neighbor across the street came and told us and we were so scared,” said Joyce Rheume, who is flying back to Canada.
The technical problem went on for almost an hour across the country, but the boards remained very red throughout the day as delays continued.
“I’m glad that they’re keeping us safe and if it’s an April Fool’s joke it’s not a good one,” Gail Mickler laughed.
There is no reason to believe the computer hiccup was an April Fool’s joke, but some travelers couldn’t help but chuckle about the coincidence.
Related Headlines
Fortunately, officials with the FAA said the problem was resolved quickly and planes were cleared for takeoff. However, delays may continue as officials said they could last throughout the day. They recommend travelers check with their airline before heading to the airport.
Technical problem causes airline delays More Local News Stories
-
Second-ever Falcon Heavy launch scheduled for this weekend
Posted Apr 01 2019 12:39PM EDT
The second-ever Falcon Heavy launch has been scheduled for this coming weekend.
According to the Orlando Sentinel , the Falcon Heavy is expected to take off from Cape Canaveral's launchpad 39A on April 7th, with a backup launch planned for April 9th. The launch window opens up at 6:36 p.m. and doesn't close until 8:35 p.m, Spaceflight Now stated .
NASA stated that the rocket will launch the Arabsat 6A communications satellite. This will deliver television, internet, and mobile phone services to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Read the full article
-
Data glitch grounds airlines across the country, including at OIA
By Amanda McKenzie
Posted Apr 01 2019 11:25AM EDT
A data glitch that grounded airplanes across America forced major airlines to cancel and delay flights in cities like Orlando on Monday morning.
“Everyone is ready to go home,” Drake Horton said. And so is the rest of his family.
“A neighbor across the street came and told us and we were so scared,” said Joyce Rheume, who is flying back to Canada.
https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/...light-they-all-had-problems-this-morning.html
Flying on American, Southwest, United, JetBlue or Alaska Today? Check Your Flight. They All Had Problems This Morning
A computer system problem grounded flights across the country this morning.
By Bill Murphy Jr.Contributing editor, Inc.com@BillMurphyJr
CREDIT: Getty Images
American, Southwest, United, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines, along with smaller regional carriers, were forced to ground flights across the United States this morning after a computer system error that affected many U.S. airlines.
The apparent problem, several airlines said, stemmed from a shared system that many airlines use -- rather than any kind of simultaneous problem encountered by multiple airlines on their individually operated computer systems.
Airline spokespeople at JetBlue and American Airlines both told me this morning that they put the blame on a system run by a company called Aerodata.
A Federal Aviation Administration official also told The Washington Post that the Aeroplan system tracks "weight and balance of a plane," and is also "used in flight planning."
While it appears that most if not all of the flights are now cleared, and the problem resolved, airlines said they expected delays would likely reverberate across their schedules today.
So if you're flying anywhere in the United States today on a U.S. carrier, it would be a good idea to check your flight's status before heading to the airport.
Earlier, Southwest had said it grounded all fights across the United States for about 40 minutes Monday morning.
"We're working with customers on any impacts to their travel plans and we appreciate their understanding as we place nothing higher than the safe operation of every flight," a spokesman said.
At Delta, it appeared the problem might have been confined largely to regional airlines operating as Delta Connection, although a spokesperson advised via USA Today, " If you're on a flight departing soon, please check the status of your flight via the Fly Delta Mobile App or Delta.com."
Some reports said that JetBlue was most heavily affected, and as of about 8:30 this morning, the company told me in an email that it was still experiencing delays. At one point, it appeared the airline had grounded all flights due to the issue.
It appears the computer problem has been resolved as of about 9:30 a.m., but airlines expected some residual delays throughout the day as they work to get back on schedule.
United Airlines said about 150 of its flights were affected Monday morning.
"Some of our regional carriers experienced an issue with a flight planning program this morning that impacted operations, resulting in delays for select United Express flights. Our team worked quickly with our partners to resolve the issue," a spokeswoman for United told me.
Alaska Airlines also reportedly had delays, but the company did not respond to my request for comment this morning.
Earlier reports -- for example when the FAA reported via Twitter at about 7:42 a.m. simply that "several U.S. airlines" were "experiencing computer issues this morning" -- led to some concerns that the problems might have been happening simultaneously on each airline's separate systems.
While there's no word on what caused the Aerodata issue, the good news here seems to be that there's nothing like a concerted attack on multiple airlines' systems--along with the fact that the airlines apparently responded quickly, and were able to resolve it all.
Published on: Apr 1, 2019
Like this column? Sign up to subscribe to email alerts and you'll never miss a post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/tran...irlines/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a6a7df6a8c3b
Local commuter email alerts
Important breaking news alerts about D.C.-area transit issues, from the roads to the rails.
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Luz Lazo Luz Lazo is a transportation reporter at The Washington Post covering passenger and freight transportation, buses, taxis and ride-sharing services. She also writes about traffic, road infrastructure and air travel in the Washington region and beyond. She joined The Post in 2011. Follow
Our journalism keeps watch on Washington and the world.
Try 1 month for $10 $1
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The Post Recommends
Several major airlines grounded planes Monday morning across U.S. because of software problem
The software problem affected several airlines, including Southwest, Delta and JetBlue.
4 hours ago
Latest episode
Thought the fight over Obamacare was done? Think again.
Listen29:52
Unparalleled reporting. Expert insight. Clear analysis. Everything you’ve come to expect from the newsroom of The Post -- for your ears.
Our journalism keeps watch on Washington and the world.
Try 1 month for $10 $1
Send me this offer
Already a subscriber? Sign in
https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/...ts-over-4600-passenger-affected/#.XKJh0UNS-Kk
Software “Malfunction” Grounds More Than 46 Lufthansa Flights: Over 4,600 Passenger Affected
Mateusz Maszczynski
25th March 2019
A continuing software “malfunction” at Germany’s air traffic control (ATC) provider, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung has forced airlines to cancel dozens of flights today. The German flag carrier, Lufthansa has been worst affected with over 46 flights at its Frankfurt hub cancelled and the travel plans of more than 4,600 passengers impacted. The airport operator has warned of delays and cancellations, with scenes of long queues emerging from the airport.
The ATC agency says it has reduced capacity by as much as 25% around Frankfurt am Main, Cologne Bonn, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf. The software glitch first started last Thursday but DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung doesn’t think a fix will be found until at least Wednesday or possibly even Thursday 28th March.
In a statement, the agency said its technicians were “working hard to analyze the error.” The cause of the issue is the display of electronic control strips, which have stopped working properly. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung was keen to point out that all other ATC systems were working normally and that safety had not been compromised.
A spokesperson explained that the ‘control strips’ “provide scheduling information to air traffic controllers and contain all important data for the course of the flight, such as type of aircraft, route, expected time of flight and other information. In addition to the radar data presentation, they provide the pilot with the essential information for his inspection activities.”
Operations at Frankfurt Airport were hampered even further on Friday morning after a drone was sighted near the airfield. Flights had to be grounded for around 30 minutes before police gave the all-clear – the airport Tweeted that everything was back to normal and that the incident hadn’t caused any “chaos” as was the case after a drone incident at Gatwick Airport in December.
Lufthansa was also forced to cancel hundreds of flights at Frankfurt Airport in August after a security breach led to the partial evacuation of what is Germany’s busiest airport. On that occasion, Lufthansa said over 7,000 had been affected after a French family were accidentally allowed into a secure airside area without first going through security.
Last year, flight delays and cancellations caused mainly by ATC problems across Europe cost Lufthansa €513 million. The airline suspects similar problems this year, which were in part caused by widespread strikes by air traffic controllers in France and Belgium.
Mateusz Maszczynski
https://www.rt.com/usa/455261-airline-outage-delays-stranded/
System failure: Thousands of passengers stranded as software glitch grounds flights across the US
Published time: 1 Apr, 2019 13:05
Get short URL
FILE PHOTO: Travelers wait at LaGuardia Airport after flights were grounded in January © Reuters / Mike Segar
- 36
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The outage involved Aerodata, a computer program that records a plane’s weight and balance information necessary to grant clearance for takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Without the computer-generated paperwork, planes stayed grounded across the country early on Monday morning.
At least five airlines were affected: Delta, Southwest, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue. All in all, 1,442 flights were delayed and 151 canceled, according to FlightAware. New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Boston’s Logan International Airport, and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were the three worst affected hubs.
Grounded passengers tweeted their frustrations at the airlines.
The glitch was later resolved, but lingering delays are expected as the airlines resume normal operations.
The outage comes a week after technical issues with Sabre, a company handling ticketing and reservations for at least 300 airlines and 100 airports, forced multiple carriers to delay flights as staff manually checked in passengers.
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