American Airlines Flights Snarled By System Outage And Airport Shutdowns

by Reena Ganga on

It’s a bad day to be flying with massive closures and flight delays across the country due to a series of technical problems and security breaches.

First up, American Airlines announced that all of its flights would be grounded until at least 5 p.m. CT. An FAA spokesperson said the system-wide outage is the result of computer problems. The airline, which has been besieged by complaints via twitter, says it’s working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile in New York, part of LaGuardia Airport has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found in the central terminal building. According to Bloomberg, emergency services and the city’s bomb squad are on the scene but there are no further details regarding the incident at this point.

And finally in Boston – where security has been tight ever since yesterday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon – an aircraft is under investigation. US Airways Flight 1716 has been stopped at Boston Logan Airport because of security concerns, although the exact nature of the threat is unclear.

All of this adds up to gridlock across the nation, with hundreds of flights grounded and passengers delayed, stranded, stuck on planes or unable to make flight reservations. The series of airline troubles come at a bad time for a country already on edge following yesterday’s tragedy on the east coast.

Update: 4:04 ET: NBC News reports that a suspicious package at Dallas Fort Worth has been investigated and determined to be a small tire.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Simon_sees]

Sky Is the Limit: Why Even Sunny Days Can Ground Airplanes

by Iva Skoch on

I don’t typically read the Wall Street Journal (call me a leftist liberal), but its Fridays edition cover page caught my eye: “Why Even Sunny Days Can Ground Airplanes,” the title says. That is a question that’s been on my mind lately as I sit on the tarmac for hours trying to figure out what the problem is (see my recent complaints about a clear-weather cancellation I had on Delta). I have long suspected that the way the airline industry works is about as straightforward and transparent as the healthcare administration in the U.S. (me: leftist liberal).

Back to the story though. On Thursday, President Bush met with Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters to discuss the reasons for air transportation problems: from old air-traffic technology, and the growing number of corporate and regional jets, to labor tensions among traffic controllers, and overscheduling by airlines. The one fundamental shortcoming seems to be obvious: There are too many planes in the air, especially on the East Coast, and the airspace is choked with traffic. Contrary to popular belief, the sky has a limit. Yet, airlines continue to schedule more flights, even while using fewer total aircraft and employees than in the 1990s boom, and they fill their schedules with smaller, regional jets to save on fuel. Plus, there has been a massive rise in small, private-jet travel (200+ passenger jets often wait in queue with 10-person private jets).


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Of course, the WSJ blamed government regulation for forcing planes to fly on fixed paths that date back to the time when airmail planes flew along cross-country roads they could see from the air. People want to travel fast and airlines want to make money. What do we do about the lack of sky? It’s not an easy fix to get our hands on. You can’t exactly invade countries to get more airspace. Or can you?