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Computer glitch upsets UK flights

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE: Computer breakdowns can be costly and catastrophic. Although disaster was averted, the damage was done. A one-hour breakdown, which began at 6 am today, badly affected London’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, by allowing only 13 of the 31 scheduled flights to take off.

The breakdown, the worst in two years for UK’s air traffic control system, occurred in NATS control center in West Drayton, throwing flights schedule out of gear for almost three hours.



The air-traffic control agency has been part-owned since 2001 by seven U.K.-based airlines and travel companies including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, BMI British Midland Airways Ltd. and MyTravel Group Plc. It charges carriers according to the number of planes passing through U.K. airspace, the distance traveled and the weight of the aircraft.



In 2003, NATS served around 2 million flights over U.K. airspace, or 8.7 million chargeable service units. The number of flights using U.K. airspace rose 3.9 percent last year, boosted by the expansion of low-cost airlines, including EasyJet Plc.



Although the reason for the breakdown is yet to be ascertained, the investigation is on.



Websites carried statements of Richard Wright, a NATS spokesman, "we are working with airlines to clear the backlog. We had to delay departures at a number of U.K. airports."



Eurocontrol spokeswoman, Lucia Pasquini said that airline travelers would experience three times the average delays, until at least mid-day. The Brussels-based organization links air traffic control operations in 31 nations.



Ryanair Holdings Plc said that its U.K. flights are "severely and indefinitely'' restricted.



The breakdown is not the first time in Europe, as in May 2002, computer failure delayed the flights at the Swanwick center. Another incident of similar a nature, occurred in Hampshire, southern England, when computers wouldn’t start after a software upgrade.



CIOL Bureau

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