Results tagged “flightdelays”

As if we needed more reasons for delays out of our bustling airports ahead of the holidays. An FAA computer glitch cause nation-wide delays this morning, including at Midway and O'Hare. As of around 9 a.m. this morning, the Trib reported minimal delays at both Chicago airports (averaging 20 to 30 minutes) and the AP was reporting the glitch had been resolved. But AirTran has already been forced to cancel almost 40 flights due to the glitch and other residual delays can be expected. A quick scan of the FAA's flight delay site shows the worst of the delays confined to the East Coast but, as always, check with your specific airline before heading out the door.

Today marks the completion of the first stage of the O'Hare expansion as its new $450 million runway opened for business. The first flight to land on the runway (the first new one in the city in 37 years) was welcomed by Mayor Daley as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Federal Aviation Administration chief Bobby Sturgell. Washington D.C.'s Dulles and Seattle's airports also had runway grand openings today. Supporters are promising that the new runway will help alleviate O'Hare's well-known delays.

Synonymous with air-travel angst for decades, O'Hare's delays persist despite a more than 8 percent fall in traffic this year. Mother Nature has been the airport's main vulnerability because when bad weather reduced visibility, controllers could land just two planes at a time -- reducing capacity by a third.

Continue reading "As New O'Hare Runway Opens, Airlines Fight More Expansion"

As if the delays and congestion situation at O'Hare weren't bad enough, they could get even worse Friday as the FAA-instituted cap on flights ends. The cap limits the number of flights per hour between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. to 88 but is being lifted by the FAA thanks to the economic struggles of the airline industry. Of course, even with fewer flights O'Hare is still one of the worst airports in the nation for on-time arrivals and departures. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will be in town to look for other solutions to fixing O'Hare's woes. I bet she totally flies in to Midway.

It seems a computer glitch at the FAA's Atlanta facility has affected air traffic at various airports across the nation, including O'Hare and Midway. According to the Trib, delays are longer at Midway (up to an hour and fourty-five minutes) than at O'Hare (15 to 30 minutes). The glitch has forced the FAA to process flight plans manually which takes longer than an electronic transfer.