Chicago Air Traffic Delays: Flights Into, Out Of O'Hare and Midway Disrupted By Equipment Outage

Air traffic in Chicago was disrupted again Monday. Little more than a week after a disgruntled contract worker took out the air traffic control center in Aurora, Illinois, flights came to a stop briefly at O'Hare International and Midway airports due to an equipment outage, WLS-TV, Chicago reported.

Flights were halted about 4 p.m. CDT and began to resume about an hour later. Numerous flights were delayed and cancelations were expected, WLS said.

The disruption came just as air traffic in the Chicago area had reached 95 percent of normal after a suicidal Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville, Illinois, allegedly set fire to the Chicago Air Route Control Center southwest of the city Sept. 26, snarling much of the nation's air traffic. Thousands of flights were canceled as a result, and the FAA has said it would take until Oct. 13 before the facility again was operational. In the meantime, air traffic above 35,000 feet was being handled by regional control centers in Minneapolis and Indianapolis.

Flightaware.com said the equipment outage disrupted communications with Indianapolis and Minneapolis.