Air-traffic malfunction disrupts Europe flights
By DPA, IANSFriday, August 20, 2010
FRANKFURT - A malfunction at Europe’s joint air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, disrupted flights over northern Europe Friday.
Brussels-based Eurocontrol said around 700 flights were affected, most of which experienced delays of around 20 minutes.
The disruptions were caused by technical problems at the Eurocontrol centre at Maastricht in the Netherlands between 2.50 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. (1250-1430 GMT).
Maastrict is responsible for the surveillance of high-level airspace in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and north-west Germany.
Germany’s Frankfurt Airport, one of Europe’s busiest, said a number of northbound flights took off up to 40 minutes late because of the problem.
Eurocontrol said the situation was more or less back to normal by early evening.
