As Chicago airports canceled hundreds of flights and worked to return to normalcy on Monday, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a review of security protocols and how the agency deals with delays such as those stemming from last week’s fire at an air traffic control center in Illinois.
Speaking Monday morning at the Air Traffic Control Association conference outside Washington, Administrator Michael Huerta said he has asked an agency and union team to look at the incident with an eye to finding ways to make security better. On Friday, a contract employee tried to commit suicide and set a fire that damaged the air traffic facility in Aurora, Ill., leading to thousands of flight cancellations and delays at O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago. The ripple effect caused flight delays and cancellations in many parts of the country.
“We are also asking our security organization to review the security protocols at our facilities to make sure we have the most robust policies and practices in place. If we need to make changes as a result of what happened on Friday to improve the system, we will not hesitate to do so,” Huerta said.
On Monday, hundreds of cancellations were reported at O’Hare and delays of up to 40 minutes were reported at Midway, but there were no major problems elsewhere, officials said. He said service at O’Hare airport is at 60 percent of normal and Midway airport was operating at 75 percent.