A technical issue that led to nationwide delays on six major airlines Monday morning has been resolved, officials said.
Frustrated customers at Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, the two largest carriers at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, as well as United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines flooded social media during the pre-dawn hours with complaints about delayed connections and other issues.
“Mainline operations and regional operations were impacted to varying degrees” due to a problem with a program called AeroData, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
AeroData is used to calculate the weight and balance of flights.
As a result of the problems, Southwest ordered a 40-minute ground stop that was lifted at 7:05 a.m.
"Scattered flight delays are anticipated and customers should check Southwest.com for the latest updates on specific flights," according to a statement. "We're working with customers on any impacts to their travel plans and we appreciate their understanding as we place nothing higher than the safe operation of every flight."
Delta reported systems were back online just before 8 a.m.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Delta and Southwest combined make up about 90 percent of the traffic at the Atlanta airport.
“A brief third-party technology issue that prevented some Delta Connection flights from being dispatched on time this morning has been resolved,” Delta said in a statement to AJC.com. “No cancellations are expected due to the issue and our teams are working to resolve some resulting delays. We apologize to customers for any inconvenience.”
Wait times at the Atlanta airport appear to be normal. According to the airport website, current wait times range from 15 to 30 minutes at most checkpoints.
We are working to learn more.
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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