A fault in New Zealand’s main air traffic system has caused aircraft grounding over the country
Airways New Zealand which provides New Zealand’s air traffic management has released a statement saying:
At approximately 1.30pm (NZ Time) this afternoon, a fire alarm went off at the building that houses Airways’ Christchurch Radar Centre. At this point, we don’t have all the facts, however the following is known:
The fire brigade has now cleared the building as safe and the radar centre continues to operate.
There is a fault with our main air traffic system and we are operating on our back up standby system. This means taking a conservative approach to managing New Zealand’s airspace. Therefore departures throughout New Zealand have been halted and arrivals are being managed.
This is a significant time of day when traffic flows are increasing with international flights starting to arrive.
The safety and wellbeing of the travelling public, our staff and our customers is our main priority. We will provide an update as more information comes to hand.
A few departures are now able to take off, with NZ5042, NZ5112, NZ5073, NZ635 and JST235 being the first flights being able to leave after the outage. All arriving aircraft are being allowed to land following a few holds.
Christchurch International Airport has posted an apology to all affected passengers on their social media platforms.
https://www.facebook.com/ChristchurchAirport/posts/2653450381385540
More info to come….
Image © John Stewart
