Computer failure at air traffic control

[Deadly]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's computer operated air traffic control system is not operating today, British Airways says.



"The computers at Swanick air traffic control have gone down. We understand they (air traffic control) are operating manually," a spokeswoman at British Airways said on Thursday.



She said there was no immediate information on the effect on flights.





I wonder what happened to them? lol

[Deadly]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's computer operated air traffic control system has crashed, temporarily grounding all flights, but after a 45-minute outage is being restored, officials say.

"Some flights are arriving at Heathrow and our next lot of flights will be leaving, although there will be heavy delays," a spokesman for British Airways told Reuters on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Manchester airport said the system crashed at just after 6 a.m., but was partially restored by 6:55 a.m.

"I am told the system is now operational again, and flights are restarting. But there will obviously be heavy delays," she said. "There will obviously be flow problems."

Reuters reporter Paul Majendie at Heathrow airport said he had been told there would be delays of at least three hours.

A BA spokesman earlier blamed the problem on computers at the Swanick air traffic control centre operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

The computer system there was several years behind schedule being brought into service in January 2002 and has suffered several problems since then. No one was immediately available for comment at NATS