A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) computer problem brought takeoffs to a halt at Southern California airports and kept Southland-bound planes on the ground across the nation for about 90 minutes on April 30.
The FAA issued a “ground stop”’ that kept departing planes on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport, Long Beach Airport, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and LA/Ontario International Airport beginning shortly after 2 p.m.
Lines of airplanes stacked up on taxiways at LAX while federal officials worked to correct the “technical issues” that occurred at the FAA’s Los Angeles Control Center. Meanwhile, flights bound for Southern California from airports across the country were also ordered to remain on the ground, according to the FAA.
The ground stop caused the cancellation of 50 flights into and out of LAX, while 428 were delayed and 27 diverted, the airport’s Nancy Castles said.
The problem affected “tens of thousands” of passengers, including 6,800 whose flights were canceled, Castles said.
According to LAX, all arriving flights that were in the FAA’s Los Angeles airspace when the problem began were permitted to land. About 10 other inbound flights were diverted to other airports, and they were expected to take off and complete the journey to LAX within the next few hours.
More than 30 flights were held on the ground at LAX while the ground stop was in place, according to the airport.
Airplanes that were already in the air were permitted to land. Some passengers who had already boarded planes at LAX were allowed to return to the terminal while the delays continued.
The ground stop was lifted shortly before 3:30 p.m., and flights were slowly resuming takeoffs. Castles said departures returned to normal schedules by 11 p.m., with arrivals back on schedule at midnight.
Some delays of more than two hours were reported at LAX.
