UPDATE (CP) - Flights at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport appeared back to normal early Friday after a computer problem led to numerous delays.
Nav Canada said a flight planning computer had crashed, resulting in many delays for departing flights and both cancelled and delayed incoming flights.
Spokesman Ron Singer had said the problem was not affecting the safe operation of the air traffic control system at the airport.
Nav Canada said in its Twitter feed that it was ‘‘working hard to fix the problems‘‘ and were ‘‘safely clearing the backlog.‘‘
By early Friday, only a small number of delays and cancellations were listed on the Pearson Airport web site, and the bulk of those were due to poor weather in Newfoundland and the upper U.S. Midwest.
Nav Canada also said it regretted the inconvenience and disruptions to airlines and passengers caused by the delays.
If you're flying in or out of Toronto's Pearson airport Thursday night, you may want to double check your flight's status.
A Nav Canada computer failure has caused delays and a backlog of flights, reports CBC News. Nav Canada is the not-for-profit company that controls traffic in Canadian airspace.
Pearson and Nav Canada confirmed the problems via Twitter:
NewsTalk 1010 reports that the computer failure has forced airport employees to use a paper method.
Some delayed passengers took their frustration out online (and a few couldn't help taking shots at Rogers after Wednesday night's massive service outage):
More from the Canadian Press:
TORONTO - A computer problem led to numerous flight delays and some cancellations in and out of Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Thursday night.
Nav Canada spokesman Ron Singer said a flight planning computer crashed resulting in significant delays for flights leaving Pearson, and cancellations and delays for incoming flights.
"To maintain safe operations we are processing flight information manually for departures, and we are now clearing the backlog," Singer said Thursday night in an email.
Singer stressed that the flight planning system problem was not affecting the safe operation of the air traffic control system at the airport.
All radar and surveillance and communications systems are working normally, Singer said.
"Air traffic controllers can see the aircraft and talk to pilots in their airspace," he added.
"The measures we have put in place to manage a safe and orderly flow of traffic, at a slower pace, are intended to ensure safety: unfortunately we regret that this is what has caused delays," he said.
Air Canada told concerned travellers via Twitter that the delays and cancellations were out of its control.
One passenger tweeted that her plane had left the gate "three hours ago" but had not taken off.
"At least waiting for 2 hours in your plane includes free movies, music and plugs. Wanna be home though," another passenger tweeted.