http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/page.cfm...=full&siteid=50061Delayed launch of jet named John Lennon
May 18 2002
Daily Post
A CEREMONY to name an aircraft after John Lennon hit problems yesterday when a computer glitch delayed its arrival in Liverpool.
Minister for Transport John Spellar was set to name the passenger aircraft after the Beatle.
But technical problems with the National Traffic Services Services System computers caused the plane, returning from Palma, to be delayed.
The computer problems also caused delays of up to five hours for passengers leaving Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Paris, Barcelona, Palma and Nice.
Liverpool MP Maria Eagle stepped in to perform the naming ceremony as Mr Spellar had to leave before the plane arrived, more than two hours late.
Airport spokesman Robin Tudor said: "In the midst of everything else going on, the computer problems have caused the plane naming ceremony to be altered.
"John Spellar could not stay for the naming ceremony but Maria Eagle stepped in to pour champagne over the plane." The delays were caused by technical problems with the National Air Traffic Services System (Nats) at the country's main control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire.
Heathrow and Gatwick both reported delays of up to two hours for departing flights.
A Nats spokeswoman said the service was reducing the number of aircraft coming into the air traffic system by half to ensure safety was not affected.
The resulting delays and possible cancellations were likely to affect every airport in Britain, she said.
"All other UK centres are operating normally and we have a team of engineers working to identify and solve the problem.
"We will bring the Swanwick system back up to full capacity as soon as it is safe to do so."
The plane named after Lennon is a new Boeing 757 which Britannia Airways is permanently basing at the airport.
The plane was installed after Thomson Holidays increased destinations available from Liverpool twelvefold this summer.
