Airports across the country experienced major delays Tuesday after a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Georgia that processes flight plans for the Eastern U.S. developed communications problems, the FAA said.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen in Atlanta said that no planes were in danger and there were no safety issues involved in the communications breakdown. Officials were able to talk to pilots in the air and on the ground, she said.
Ms. Bergen said she didn’t know how many flights were affected.
An FAA Web site that posts airport-status data showed delays at three-dozen major airports nationwide. It advised passengers to “check your departure airport to see if your flight may be affected.”
Officials at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport said they were not seeing widespread delays or cancellations because of the FAA communications problems.
But Cheryl Stewart, spokeswoman for Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport said that the airport was experiencing some delays, the Associated Press reported.
Ms. Bergen said an FAA facility south of Atlanta experienced a glitch in its communications link that transmits flight plans to a similar facility in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City site then had to process the flight plans, causing the delays in planes taking off. She said there were no problems with planes landing.
“There will be flight delays,” Ms. Bergen said. “It could be any location, because one facility is now processing flight data for everybody.”
The Associated Press reported delays at Miami International Airport and Tampa International Airport in Florida.
A spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the impact there.
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