WASHINGTON — Airports along the East Coast are experiencing major delays Saturday afternoon.
BWI Marshall Airport officials confirmed via Twitter that there is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) technical issue — a computer outage — that is affecting airline flights throughout the region. In a later Tweet, it said the technical issue is with the FAA Washington Center, which is a regional hub.
The FAA confirmed at 1 p.m. that it was a technical issue in a statemement:
The FAA is diagnosing an automation problem at an air traffic center in Leesburg, VA. Some flights into and out of the New York and Washington, DC metro area airports area may be delayed. We are directing high altitude traffic around the affected airspace.
We will update this statement when we have new information.
On background, this has nothing to do with an accident or hacking.
Varying delays were being reported at Dulles International, BWI and Reagan National Airports, beginning around noon. CBS Transportation Correspondent Kris Van Cleave told WTOP that delays and cancellations were being reported all over the East Coast, including JFK and La Guardia Airports and beyond.
Story is developing.
Passengers with flights scheduled this afternoon should check with their airline for updated flight status information. (2/2)
— BWI Marshall Airport (@BWI_Airport) August 15, 2015
Technical issue at #FAA Washington Center is affecting airline flights throughout region, including #BWI. (1/2)
— BWI Marshall Airport (@BWI_Airport) August 15, 2015
.@flightradar24 showing a large gap with no aircraft between Washington, D.C., and North Carolina due to ZDC outage. pic.twitter.com/zMwPUKZDVu
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) August 15, 2015
