Computer problem grounds Comair US holiday flights

Sat Dec 25, 2004 10:33 PM ET

(Adds delays and cancellations at U.S. Airways)

WASHINGTON, Dec 25 (Reuters) - About 1,100 flights of regional U.S. air
carrier Comair were grounded on Christmas Day by a computer glitch that
threatens to keep the airline on a limited schedule for some days, a
spokeswoman for its parent company said on Saturday.

Spokeswoman Tracey Bowen said all Comair's flights were canceled because a
winter storm earlier in the week that hit its Cincinnati operating base
"caused a computer system that manages crew flight assignments to become
inoperative."

Another airline, U.S. Airways, also canceled some flights and delayed others on Christmas Day because of a continued shortage of baggage-handling staff caused by an unusually high number of sick calls over the weekend.

Bowen said Comair was working to restore its computer system but the
airline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta that flies mainly in the eastern
half of the United States, likely will operate on a limited schedule for
some days.

She added that Delta was trying to find seats on its planes for some of
Comair's stranded passengers and issued vouchers for food and hotel charges
and for alternative ground travel.

Comair flies to more than 100 cities, including New York, Boston and
Washington, and serves Delta's major hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt
Lake City.

U.S. Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the airline canceled 143 flights on
Saturday after canceling 176 on Christmas Eve and was still trying to clear
a baggage backlog that began building on Thursday in its Philadelphia hub
due to severe winter weather and which was compounded by "an unusually high
volume of sick calls."

Kudwa said the Virginia-based carrier, which also operates mostly in the
east, was working around the clock to get the backlog cleared, including
flying some stranded luggage from Philadelphia to its larger facility at
Charlotte, North Carolina, to speed up delivery.

U.S. Airways is operating under bankruptcy protection and has won major
concessions from most of its employees but has warned that without ratified
agreements it might start liquidating by mid-January.

Kudwa said the company did not think the widespread Christmas sick calls
were connected to any labor dispute.

"We don't believe that we have an organized labor action on our hands," she
said.







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