GARDERMOEN (Nettavisen): At 09.30 Avinor reports that the error that closed the airspace over southern Norway has been corrected and that the airspace is gradually opening up to traffic again:
– Due to the incident, there will unfortunately be delays throughout the day, reports Avinor.
“The cause was a technical error at the Oslo Control Center, which meant that the airspace in southern Norway had major restrictions. Avinor apologizes for the inconvenience this causes and asks all passengers to comply with the information they receive from their airline,” writes Avinor on its website.
Avinor’s overview of arrivals and departures at Gardermoen shows that 64 flights at Gardermoen have been cancelled.
Are you affected? Tip Nettavisen on phone 02060 and email [email protected]
Partially opened at 08.30
At 08.24, communications manager Cathrine Fuglesang Framholt at Avinor informed Røyken and Hurum Avis that the airspace has been partially opened.
– Now I just got word that some flights will be opened, and we will prioritize landing for long-haul flights. It will be a strictly controlled airspace, but someone will be able to land, she tells the newspaper.
At this time, it was still open with strict restrictions.
– We have not received confirmation that the error has been rectified and that it is 100 per cent in order, but we can open for some air traffic, Framholt told NTB at 08.40.
Get an overview of the delays here: Check your flight: Flight delays in southern Norway
– Exciting information
– There is a bit of confusing information here. On the screen it still says that my flight leaves at 08.30. On several other departures it says cancelled. I have checked in, while others going the same way with SAS have been told that check-in is closed, said Nettavisen’s reporter at Gardermoen as the clock approached 08.30.
– I am going to the Canary Islands via Oslo. The flight I was supposed to take was cancelled. I received an e-mail about a new time, but it’s getting so late that I won’t catch the flight from Oslo, Barry Schønmingsen told BA at 0730.
– We get quite a bit of information. What the hell are they doing, he told the newspaper.
Nettavisen spoke to a passenger who was sitting on a plane at Gardermoen and waiting for departure to Italy. They boarded the plane just before 7 o’clock, and they were still sitting on the ground waiting when Nettavisen made contact at 07.40.
They had not then been told how long they had to wait.
– Very boring, she tells Nettavisen.
A stranded fisherman on Gardermoen does not take too seriously being delayed due to the flight chaos in southern Norway.
The error was discovered at 06.30
At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, the last flights took off at 06.00. It was SAS SK 4675 to Alicante and SAS SK1461 to Copenhagen, the overview on avinor.no showed.
NTB spoke just after 6.30 with a passenger on a plane that was supposed to take off from Gardermoen, but where the pilot stated that air traffic control was down all over the country, and that the entire system was paralysed.
Avinor confirms to NTB that the error occurred a little before 6.30.
– We are also affected by this. No aircraft are currently allowed to take off. We have several planes with passengers on board that are ready for departure, but they have to wait, communications manager Tine Kleive-Mathisen told Sandefjords Blad at 07.30.
The fault lay in Røyken
The technical error that led to the problems was at Avinor’s aviation control center in Røyken. Here, there are two computer systems that do not talk to each other as they should, Avinor’s communications manager Cathrine Fuglesang Famholt told Bergensavisen.
– When it has to do with security, there is nothing else to do but close the airspace, she told the newspaper.
Speculation that it could be a data breach was denied by Avinor.
Avinor is responsible for 43 state-owned airports, and the air traffic control service for civil and military aviation in Norway.
The first message
– Due to a technical error at the Oslo Control Center, the airspace over southern Norway is temporarily closed. Significant delays are expected. Duration is currently unknown. We encourage all travelers to refer to the information they receive from their airline. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. This is all the information we have at the moment. We will come back with more information, said the message Avinor issued just before 07:00.
Norwegian: Informs customers
– We have been told that the airspace will be closed at least until 11. This means that we will have to cancel a number of flights, said communications advisor Eline Hyggen Skari in Norwegian to TV 2.
– Our team is in the process of informing our customers who receive a message from us via text message. If there are canceled flights, customers can either cancel and get their money back, or they can book a new flight, she said.
The rescue helicopter flew as normal
The rescue helicopters reported that they were flying as normal:
– If it is a question of life or death, we fly as normal – completely regardless of this, said rescue manager Jan Erik Skorte in the Central Rescue Center South Norway to NRK.
Check the delays in air traffic at Gardermoen here:
