FAA says equipment outage caused 819 flight delays

[November 21, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is blaming an equipment outage this week for delaying 819 flights.

The agency told employees in a briefing memo Friday that air travelers experienced a total of 2,121 delays the previous day due to the equipment outage as well as thunderstorms and other poor weather in the Northeast.

The memo said that the more than 800 flight delays attributable to the equipment outage included 273 in Atlanta. At New York airports, LaGuardia reported 81 equipment-related delays and JFK 44. Nearby Teterboro in New Jersey reported 83. An unidentified Midwest airport had almost 50 outage-related delays.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency can't say for certain which delays were attribute to the outage and which to weather.

[Associated Press; By JOAN LOWY]

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