FLIGHT CHAOS HITS AIRPORT

THERE were delays in 18 incoming and 20 outgoing flights from and to the United Kingdom and Ireland when the competer system at Swanick crashed in the early hours of yesterday morning. A spokesman for AENA (the Spanish Airport Authority) said yesterday that the computer crash occurred at about 7am Spanish time.
By 5pm yesterday, there had been delays averaging 70 minutes in 17 incoming flights and 20 outgoing flights at Palma's Son Sant Joan airport.
The biggest delay was in a Britannia flight to Edinburgh, which should have taken off shortly before noon, but did not leave until 2.30pm.
At Mahon airport, there was only one delay in an easyJet flight which landed 70 minutes late from Gatwick.
Britannia flights from the airports of Bristol, East Midlands (Nottingham), Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds-Bradford and Newcastle were all delayed.
One flight from Bristol, which had been scheduled to arrive in Palma at 9.40am, finally touched down at 10.30am.
Delays in the other flights ranged from 50 to 90 minutes, AENA sources said. Flights from Gatwick, East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool and Dublin experienced delays of between 50 and 100 minutes. An easyJet flight to Ibiza landed on schedule as it had taken off before the British computer system crashed.
Passengers waited stoically at Palma's Son Sant Joan until their delayed flights were called, and on the whole, few complaints were registered.