An equipment malfunction at Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, disrupted flights over northern Europe on Friday, the agency said.
The malfunction occurred at Eurocontrol’s Upper Area Control Centre in Maastricht (MUAC), the Netherlands. The disruptions took place at 2:50 p.m. local time. Gradual recovery started at 3:20 p.m. and normal capacity was reached at 4:30 p.m.
The equipment problems affected the air navigation services provided to the upper airspace of Belgium, northwest Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In these areas, approximately 700 flights were affected due to capacity being reduced and air traffic flow and capacity management measures were introduced.
As a consequence flight delays are expected to continue until 7:00 p.m. local time. Each flight is being delayed by approximately 20 minutes. The total delay caused by the malfunction is estimated to be around 15,000 minutes.
