Fire at Major Phone Hub Delays Flights in Chicago

Flight delays were reported at Chicago area airports today following a fire at a major telephone switching center, and about 35,000 suburban customers remained without telephone service.

Federal aviation officials said the delays could have a spinoff effect on other airports nationwide.

Flights to Chicago from San Francisco International Airport were delayed from 70 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

“It’s going to be like that all day long,” airport spokesman Ron Wilson said. “It’s just going to be inconvenient for people. They’re going to be sitting around for a while.”

American Airlines said that it was experiencing 30 minute delays on Chicago flights out of LaGuardia’s Airport in New York but that there were no major problems with flights coming in from Chicago.

The fire, which broke out Sunday in a telephone switching center in suburban Hinsdale, forced 150 people from their homes and injured six firefighters, authorities said.

“This Hinsdale switching center was a major hubbing facility for routing calls from Chicago to the far western suburbs and vice versa,” Illinois Bell spokesman Tim Bannon said.

About 35,000 people in a 20-square-mile area in the western suburbs of Chicago remained without telephone service this morning, Bannon said.

United, based in Chicago, told customers today to expect flight delays of up to two hours at O’Hare International, the nation’s busiest airport.

FAA spokesman Mort Edelstein said downed land lines between O’Hare and the west suburban Aurora Control Tower forced the use of back-up systems.

“Right now we’re accepting about 65 aircraft an hour,” resulting in delays of up to 45 minutes at O’Hare and Midway Airports, Edelstein said. O’Hare at its peak can handle 150 aircraft an hour.