Many travelers across Europe should brace for delays and cancellations for the rest of the day due to a system failure at the Eurocontrol center in Brussels. Eurocontrol, which oversees air traffic for 41 member states, announced that there’s been a malfunction in the Enhanced Tactical Flow Management System (ETFMS).
To handle this problem, contingency measures are being implemented, which will reduce the European network’s capacity by roughly 10 percent. Given that the average daily traffic in April within Eurocontrol’s 41 member states is about 30,000 flights, around 3,000 flights and up to half a million passengers could be affected.
The ETFMS is designed to balance airline demand with available capacity in Europe’s busy airspace. When airlines submit their flight plans, ETFMS calculates the routes based on available airspace information and allocates time slots accordingly. This information is then communicated to the relevant national air-traffic providers, simplifying the coordination process.
Later, Eurocontrol mentioned that the issue had been identified and expected to be fixed by late Tuesday evening. Brussels Airport reported that departures were restricted to 10 flights per hour.
It’s important to note that any flight plans filed before 11:26 am British time have been lost in the system, so airlines have been instructed to re-file them. Departure slots will be limited, which is likely to result in ground delays building up quickly. If gates become congested, arriving aircraft will have to wait for other planes to depart.