‘Deliberate’ fire leads to thousands of US flight cancellations
US airports reported hundreds of flight cancellations over the weekend after a fire at a Chicago-area air traffic control centre that is believed to have been started deliberately.
Chicago O’Hare airport, the nation’s second busiest airport by passengers, was the worst affected.
Flight tracking website, Flight Aware reported 1,304 flights to and from the airport cancelled on Friday, 654 on Saturday and 745 on Sunday. Today 15% of flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled.
Flights have also been disrupted at other airports in the region, including Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee.
Brian Howard, 36, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, was charged on Friday in US District Court in Chicago with one felony count of destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, prosecutors said.
Howard, who has worked at the control centre in Aurora, Illinois, for eight years, is suspected of starting the fire in its basement at about 5:40 a.m. local time (10:40am GMT).
He had recently been told he was being transferred to Hawaii, according to an affidavit attached to the complaint.
Shortly before the fire, a private message was posted to Howard’s Facebook account that said he was "about to take out" the control centre and take his own life.
He could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
The Federal Aviation Administration has set a target of October 13 to restore to service a Chicago-area air traffic control site.
It said that air traffic controllers who normally work at the Aurora facility are now working at other surrounding FAA facilities to help maximize traffic flow in and out of Chicago-area airports while repairs are being made.
Diane
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