Flights delayed by FAA equipment problems in Chicago

Equipment problems at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility near a air traffic control facility that was set on fire last month resulted in flights being delayed at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway international airports on Monday afternoon, according to officials with the agency. 

The FAA said it was forced to delay arrivals at the Chicago area airports from several Midwestern and Canadian locations for about an hour on Monday as it worked to repair disabled phone lines at its Chicago Terminal Radar Approach Control facility in Elgin, IL. 

The trouble came less than two after the FAA’s facility in Aurora, Ill. was set on fire in an apparent suicide attempt by one of the agency’s employees. The Aurora fire resulted in nearly 4,000 flights being delayed in the last weekend of September. 

{mosads}The FAA said Monday’s incident in Elgin was fair less damaging to the flow of commercial airplanes in the busy Chicago area. 

“The FAA managed more than 99 percent of the two-month average air traffic for a Sunday into and out of O’Hare and 95 percent for Midway,” the agency said in a statement. “The FAA is continuing to work with the airlines to maximize capacity at the Chicago-area airports and minimize delays.” 

The FAA said repairs at the Aurora air traffic control facility were also still ongoing. 

“Over the weekend, FAA technical teams working on restoring telecommunications systems at the FAA’s Chicago En Route Center in Aurora, IL removed all of the equipment and cabling that was damaged in the September 26, 2014 fire at the facility,” the agency said. “Cleaning crews removed the remaining soot and debris from the area. The FAA teams on site are continuing work to connect the new and existing equipment and test it to ensure all systems are running properly.”