Flights to and from Sydney airport were grounded today due to an air traffic control outage.
The systems went down from about 5.20am local time as thousands of passengers converged on Australia’s largest airport at the start of school holidays in New South Wales.
The software fault, which caused flight delays and cancellations around Australia, took about three hours to be resolved.
An Air Services Australia spokeswoman said the technical issues had been resolved but flights would be delayed throughout the day.
“Air Services experienced a software issue affecting Sydney Airport’s air traffic control and management system, resulting in major disruptions to flight operations this morning,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The software fault failed to convert from night-shift operations to day-shift operations, consequently one air traffic control console was operational for the morning peak when in normal circumstances six to eight consoles are operating.
“The safety of the travelling public is our first priority and traffic capacity was reduced to maintain safety standards.”