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Atlanta: Mass flight delays caused by an electronic communication failure drew new criticism for the US government's aviation agency, which has been scrutinised over air traffic controller staffing levels and inspection standards for its ground-based equipment.
The country's Northeast was hardest hit by the delays prompted on Tuesday by a glitch at a Hampton, Georgia, facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the US.
As of last morning, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the situation around the country had returned to normal, with most delays from the malfunction being cleared up on Tuesday night. But spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the investigation into what caused the problem is still ongoing, and she did not know when it would be completed.
"It usually takes a while to be quite honest," she said.
The FAA said the glitch appeared to have involved a software problem.
Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said the episode "once again highlights the need to reform and repair a broken system". His Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, said "airline passengers are sick and tired of delays and cancellations."
The non-profit Travel Industry Association called it "one more example of America's deteriorating air travel system." The FAA, for its part, said it would work to make sure the problem didn't happen again.
According to the FAA, 646 flights had been delayed as a direct result of the problem. In a 24-hour period the FAA processes more than 300,000 flight plans in the US, the agency said.
Another FAA spokesperson said the problem that occurred on Tuesday involved a failure in a communication link that transmits flight plan data from the Georgia facility to a similar facility in Salt Lake City.
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