Geneva airspace crippled after flooding affects air traffic management centre

Swiss air navigation service Skyguide is trying to restore capacity in Geneva airspace after flooding hit the city’s air traffic management control centre. Skyguide says the flooding resulted from a “heavy thunderstorm” on 25 June, and affected the cooling systems of its data centre. It states that the risk of overheating air traffic control equipment prompted it to close Geneva airspace at around 22:00, preventing any departures or arrivals in the area. Skyguide re-opened the airspace after 2h 30min, but operating at half its capacity, after putting the cooling system back into operation. This level was raised to 70% at 10:00 on 26 June. “The danger of the air traffic control systems overheating has…been averted,” it states. Skyguide says it is monitoring and assessing the situation, given the capacity reduction. Pan-European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol says Geneva airport is dealing with “moderate” delays while there are “moderate to high” delays across several Geneva airspace sectors. Geneva airport’s operator says air traffic is “gradually resuming”. The airport handled 16.5m passengers last year.<br/>