© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Southwest airplane takes off at the Tampa International Airport as airports around the country are awaiting for Verizon and AT&T to rollout their 5G technology, in Tampa, Florida, U.S., January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Octavio Jones
(Reuters) -Problems with an air traffic control system are causing flight delays at major airports in Florida, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday as it worked to fix the latest issue to hamper air travel in the United States.
“The FAA has slowed the volume of traffic into Florida airspace due to an air traffic computer issue that is being resolved,” the U.S. regulator said in a statement.
The problem relates to a system known as the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) used to control air traffic, the regulator said, without providing further details.
The issue emerged after a massive winter storm snarled air travel during the Christmas holiday season, crippling operations at low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines (NYSE:), which canceled thousands of flights.
A spokesperson for the Miami International Airport said about 10 arriving flights and 10 departures had been delayed over the last two hours due to the FAA’s so-called ground stop order, a measure under which the regulator can slow or halt flight traffic over specified airspace.
The delays were equal to roughly one-fifth of its normal volumes during the time period, the MIA spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Orlando International Airport, whose three-letter code is MCO, said the airport was not expecting major delays.
“Due to an FAA control plan in place to help manage air traffic flow at airports in Florida, including MCO, some flights today may be affected,” the spokesperson said.
While not directly covered by the ground stop order, the Tampa International Airport could still see some inbound flights affected, a spokesperson for the airport said.
(reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by David Gregorio and Grant McCool)