About 2,000 flights were grounded at two major Chicago airports on Friday after a disgruntled employee lit a fire at an air traffic control centre and tried to commit suicide.
It will take two weeks to restore operations at the control centre, US aviation authorities said yesterday.
“Teams will be working around the clock to install equipment, run cable and restore network connections at the facility,” the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“The FAA has set a target to return Chicago Centre to full service by October 13.”
Flights into and out of the city’s busy O’Hare and Midway airports were completely shut down as a result of the blaze at the FAA’s facility in the town of Aurora, Illinois.
More than 1,500 flights were cancelled from O’Hare, one of the busiest airports in the US, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and unsure when they would be able to travel, according to the AFP news agency.
Flight schedules gradually were returning to normal over the weekend and both airports were operating at more than one-half normal capacity by yesterday (Sunday).
“The FAA steadily has increased the number of flights arriving and departing at O’Hare and Midway,” the agency said.
By Saturday, “air traffic controllers safely managed about 60% of typical traffic” at O’Hare, and the figure for Midway was over 75%.
According to a federal complaint, 36-year-old Brian Howard had posted a message on his Facebook page saying he was going to “take out” the control centre and kill himself.