Gremlin grounds flights
2004-06-03 08:32
London - A computer failure at Britain's main air traffic control centre grounded many of the country's flights on Thursday morning, British Airways said.
A spokesperson said the computer system at the National Air Traffic Service in Swanwick, southern England, went down at about 06:00 GMT.
British media reported that several airports had suspended all domestic and international takeoffs.
Air traffic service spokesperson Adrian Yalland said it was looking into reports of a "computer system problem".
The £263m Swanwick centre has been beset by problems since it opened, five years late, in 2002.
The opening was delayed by problems with computer software, and the glitches continued for months afterward, as controllers misread aircraft altitudes and destinations because of hard-to-decipher computer screens. In at least one case, controllers mistook the Scottish city of Glasgow for Cardiff in Wales.
- AP