(NewsNation) — Departures from Miami International Airport are experiencing delays while officials work to fix an air traffic computer system.
There have been several delays and a handful of flight cancellations out of Southern Florida after the Federal Aviation Administration reported an issue with air traffic control equipment at Miami International.
“The FAA has slowed the volume of traffic into Florida airspace due to an air traffic computer issue that is being resolved,” the agency said in a statement Monday.
On Twitter, American Airlines said “the ground stop for all Florida airports is affecting all carriers in and out of the area due to an issue at the MIA traffic control center.”
The ERAM system is a modern computer system at the air traffic centers that handles en route traffic, according to the FAA. It processes flight and surveillance data and displays that to air traffic controllers and also provides communication.
The flight-tracking website FlightAware shows increasing departure delays of about 1 1/2 hours at Miami International Airport.
Flights across Florida are being impacted, with Orlando’s airport reportedly seeing more than 30 percent of flights delayed. Fort Lauderdale and Tampa airports are seeing delays as well.
On a tour of the airport, a flight official described Florida as the highway of the skies. It’s a major destination and also serves as a hub for airlines, which means delays there can impact flights across the country.
FAA officials said the computer issue is being resolved, but did not have a timetable for when things could be expected to return to normal.
This is a developing report. Refresh for updates.