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| Photo: John McGarvey (flickr) |
[Avionics Today 10-03-2014] Following a fire set by an FAA contractor in the basement of the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZAU) in Aurora, Ill., the FAA is continuing to monitor air traffic in the airports surrounding the Chicago area. The FAA is reporting that Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) have handled fewer than average flights in and out of the Chicago area due to thunderstorms, with several airlines preparing for the severe weather in advance by cancelling flights in and out of Midway and O’Hare hubs.
As of Oct. 2, the government agency reported that air traffic operations at O’Hare were more than 80 percent of the two-month average rate for a Thursday at O’Hare and about 60 percent of the two-month average for Midway. The FAA states that it will continue to monitor the weather for the next several days and is working with the airlines to safely get passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible.
In addition, the FAA has established specific routes to handle additional flights expected in the South Bend area before and after Saturday’s Notre Dame-Stanford football game and does not expect the additional traffic to affect or delay daily operations at the other Chicago-area airports.