Fiber Optic Cable Cut Causes Widespread Flight Delays

Numerous flights at Memphis International Airport, operated by Northwest Airlines Corp., experienced delays ranging from 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours on Tuesday afternoon due to a severed U.S. West Inc. fiber optics cable line in Minnesota. The disruption was caused by a worker digging at a construction site near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, who accidentally cut the cable line that routes computer data throughout Northwest's system.

Key Takeaways:

• The severed cable line disrupted Northwest's equipment for weighing and balancing departing aircraft, as well as other functions, causing widespread delays and cancellations.
• The outage began at 2:01 p.m. and was restored at 5:12 p.m., with flights resuming around 5:45 p.m.
• A total of 100 flights were canceled by Northwest Airlines on Tuesday, with three flights canceled in Memphis unrelated to the severed cable line.
• The airline suspended all flights at its Detroit hub and about half of those out of its Minneapolis-St. Paul and Memphis airports during the outage.
• Passengers were not in danger, but those booked on later flights had to wait at the airports due to the disruptions.
• The airline apologized to customers and offered to re-book impacted passengers.
• A U.S. West spokesman stated that the disruption was not caused by Northwest or U.S. West, but rather by a worker laying cable for a competitor, McLeodUSA Inc.

Statistics:

• 100 flights canceled by Northwest Airlines on Tuesday
• Delays ranged from 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours
• Outage began at 2:01 p.m. and was restored at 5:12 p.m.
• Flights resumed around 5:45 p.m.
• Three flights canceled in Memphis unrelated to the severed cable line

Sources:

• Bloomberg News