Irish airspace was closed from 8 pm Tuesday night till about 11 pm after a significant failure at Shannon ATC.
The Irish Aviation Authority tweeted last night that “a technical issue” at Shannon ATC had caused the closedown.
However, flights to Dublin were not affected as its system is independent of the Shannon system and its proximity to UK airspace.
SEE our video “Dispelling the myths about flying”
As part of a planned contingency, the IAA moved to its backup systems and the flight restrictions were lifted later in the evening with traffic flows slowly restored to normal capacity.
The IAA said that “an investigation into the technical issue is ongoing.”
It warned intending passengers to check with their airlines.
The IAA’s Dublin ATC system is unaffected and Dublin flights were operating normally.
During the close down all flights overflying Ireland were re-routed.
The issue was apparently caused by the failure of Shannon’s “radar”.
Cork Airport described it as a “significant systems failure” resulting in a “zero flow rate”.
Both airports said flights this morning could be affected because planes and crew would be “out of position”.
An investigation into what went wrong is ongoing.
