FAA glitches delay US flights

Twice last week computer problems in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traffic control centre caused flight delays in parts of the north-east area of the US; the FAA said the problem has been fixed and it is not believed to have been related to Y2K.

FAA spokeswoman, Alison Duquette, said the problems started when the air-traffic control centre in Leesburg, Virginia, experienced a data-transfer problem between a peripheral device and the main computer, which caused the main computer to overload.

Duquette said the problem began at 06:15 and ended at 09:49 EST and that airports experienced approximately 45-minute delays in departures.

"It's been six days past the new year and there is no reason to believe it is Y2K-related, but we are still investigating. We don't know what caused the problem yet," she said.

Duquette added the main computer had been restored and the FAA said the centre is handling traffic normally. The computer glitch caused delays of up to two hours on Thursday in and out of US airports.