Melbourne: Thousands of passengers were
on Sunday stranded at airports across Australia as technological
glitches hit the computer systems of two major airlines,
shutting down their check-in systems.
Virgin Blue, the country`s second largest airline, was
the worst affected, with about 20 per cent of its flights
cancelled across Australia and many others delayed by hours by
a problem that hit the airline`s terminal check-in system.
"The manual check-in process has meant that our customers
regrettably have been inconvenienced with delays and flight
cancellations," the airline said in a statement.
Budget airline Jetstar had also been hit, with its
check-in system going down twice for short periods, the
`Sydney Morning Herald` reported.
Virgin Blue spokesman Colin Lippiatt said investigations
were underway into what went wrong.
"There`s sketchy information at this point in time. We
understand it`s a server issue, some sort of communication
issue," he was quoted as saying by ABC News.
"We`re looking into that with all our suppliers just to
isolate what it is and get it up and running as soon as
possible."
The report said Virgin Blue was forced to cancel up to 50
flights around Australia because of the computer problem.
PTI
