Computer glitch cancels, delays East Coast flights Saturday

American Airlines, the dominant carrier at Charlotte’s airport, experienced widespread delays and cancellations Saturday because of an air traffic control issue that affected all airlines’ East Coast flights and thousands of passengers.

Of the 633 American Airlines departures from Charlotte during the affected period Saturday morning and afternoon, 22 were canceled, airline spokeswoman Laura Nedbal said. Of the 635 arrivals, 20 were canceled, Nedbal said.

Most of those flights probably were to or from airports in Cleveland, New York and Washington, the areas affected by the air traffic control issue, she said.

More than 90 percent of travelers flying through Charlotte Douglas International Airport use American or US Airways. The two merged in December 2013.

The Federal Aviation Administration said shortly before 5 p.m. the problem had been fixed, the Associated Press reported. It’s unclear what residual impact the delays will hold for people traveling Sunday.

American urged passengers to plan accordingly by checking their flights on the airline’s website.

The cause of the delays and cancellations was an automation problem at an air traffic center in Leesburg, Va., FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told the AP.

Flights were grounded into and out of New York’s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports and Washington-area airports, with delays stretching to 2 hours, 45 minutes in some cases, the AP reported.

The FAA has not said how many flights were impacted. But the “Misery Map” on a flight-tracking website, FlightAware, showed the most delays in the U.S. coming out of the D.C. area, with 30 percent of flights out of Reagan Washington National airport canceled and 18 percent of flights canceled out of Baltimore/Washington International as of about 2:15 p.m. Saturday, The Washington Post reported.

Information on an FAA website indicated that part of the trouble was due to a computer system known as ERAM that air traffic controllers used at 20 centers around the country that handle high-altitude air traffic, according to the AP.

The FAA said it is directing high-altitude flights around the affected airspace. The problem is not believed to be caused by any accident or hacking, the AP reported.

This story was originally published August 15, 2015 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Computer glitch cancels, delays East Coast flights Saturday."