Hundreds of flights canceled because of Dublin airport radar breakdown

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DUBLIN, Ireland — More than 200 flights at Dublin Airport were delayed, diverted or canceled today after air traffic controllers deemed their radar system too malfunction-prone to operate safely.

The Irish Aviation Authority barred aircraft from landing at Ireland's largest airport for about two hours after the radar system failed to display the call signs that normally identify each incoming aircraft. Landings have now resumed at a reduced rate. .

Irish airline Aer Lingus announced that all of its Wednesday night flights involving Dublin would be canceled so that its traffic jam of morning and afternoon flights could get airborne.

The airport's other major user, Ryanair, canceled 10 flights and warned other passengers to expect delays of up to five hours.

In a statement, Ryanair said engineers "shut down the Dublin radar computer but the restart was unsuccessful" and harshly criticized the Irish Aviation Authority, which is responsible for running air traffic control.

The Irish Aviation Authority acknowledged that aircraft call signs have disappeared from controllers' radar screens on several occasions in the past month and engineers from the system's French designer, Thales Group, arrived in Dublin this week to fix the problem.

But Irish Aviation Authority spokeswoman Lilian Cassin said the problem reappeared today. It meant controllers had to order inbound aircraft to hold their positions as they identified each incoming "blip" by other means, and a traffic jam quickly developed.

She said controllers took the decision to shut down the runway to all inbound traffic when the problem worsened. Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the Irish Aviation Authority moved too slowly.

"The issues with radar equipment at Dublin have been known for some weeks and it is unacceptable that there is no contingency or backup plan," he said.