Air New Zealand’s departure control system went down for an hour on Wednesday, causing flight delays at airports around the world.
Air New Zealand spokesman Cameron Hill said the airline was investigating the cause of the system crash, describing it as a “one hour hiccup”. Hardware was suspected to be at fault.
Departure control is linked to the airline’s aging Carina reservation system, which Air New Zealand is looking at replacing, but Hill says the fact that it went down has nothing to do with Carina's age. He describes it as very stable.
Before Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand parted ways, Air New Zealand had been considering systems from Madrid-based Amadeus and Lufthansa Systems.
Computerworld understands the airline had been conducting due diligence on Amadeus before Ansett Australia went into voluntary administration in September last year.
Hill says the airline is still looking at completing replacing the old system but says there is still no word on who the successful supplier will be.