‘Technical issues’ snarl air traffic along East Coast

FAA says problem that caused delays has been resolved.

— Air traffic WASHINGTON was snarled and passengers’ tempers frayed Saturday as many flights to and from airports throughout a large swath of the Northeast stretching from New York down to the Carolinas were delayed or canceled.

The Federal Aviation Administration blamed the problem on “technical issues” at an air traffic control center in Leesburg, Virginia. Around 4 p.m., the agency said the problem had been resolved, and that officials were working to lift any remaining orders to hold planes on the ground.

Delays began building about 9:45 a.m., according to FlightRadar24, a flight monitoring website. Flights bound for airports in theWashington area were some of the most affected, includingWashington’s Reagan National Airport and Dulles International, as well as Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

By midafternoon, 50 percent of inbound flights and 42 percent of outbound flights had been canceled at Reagan National, and delays were averaging about three hours, according to FlightRadar24. In Baltimore, 58 percent of inbound flights and 36 of outbound flights had been canceled, and delays were averaging over an hour.

Flights departing from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York that normally fly over theWashington region as they head southward were also affected, although the FAA had said it was trying to route the flights around the affected area.

FAA officials had no immediate estimate of how many flights were affected, but FlightRadar24 spokesman Ian Petchenik said it was certainly in the hundreds.

The agency said in a statement that the snarl was the result of an “automation problem” at the Leesburg center. The center handles high-altitude air traffic for the affected region. The problem wasn’t believed to be caused by any accident or hacking.

Information posted online by the FAA indicated there was a problem with the En Route Automation Modernization computer system, also known as ERAM, at the Leesburg center.

The FAA finished installing the troubled computer system in the last of 20 high-altitude traffic control centers earlier this year. The completion was years behind schedule.

“The FAA is continuing its root cause analysis to determine what caused the problem and is working closely with the airlines to minimize impacts to travelers,” the agency said in a statement.