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Computer Problem Causes Mass Flight Delays

Travelers are facing mass flight delays today as the result of a computer problem at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA has two systems that process flight plans - one located in Atlanta and the other one in Salt Lake City. But the Atlanta system went down at 1:30pm today, and all flight plans are now being handled out of Salt Lake City.

As a result, delays could pile up at airports across the country. Delays up to 90 minutes are already surfacing at several airports.

"This was a failure mode we have not seen before," said FAA chief operating officer Hank Krakowski on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the FAA, about 6,500 airplanes are in FAA system, though the aviation agency has not said how many were in the sky and how many were on the ground when the problem occurred.

With such a heavy volume of air traffic typically converging on the East Coast, delays could spread depending on how much time it takes to iron out the problem. Krakowski said most of the delays were happening in the eastern portion of the United States, with none reported west of Dallas or Chicago.