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Equipment Malfunction Cancels Flights at Gainesville Airport

A number of flights were canceled in and out of the Gainesville Regional Airport Sunday after part of the airport's flight landing systems malfunctioned.

Hundreds of passengers were affected at the start of the holiday travel season when at least five flights were diverted and 14 overall flights were canceled at the airport.

Laura Aguiar, spokeswoman for the airport, said the equipment that malfunctioned helps pilots land in inclement weather. The glide slope on the Instrument Landing System went down Sunday morning. The ILS is owned and maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA had a repairman on site and restored the service by 7:30 p.m., Aguiar said.

By that time, Delta and USAirways had already canceled several later arrivals.

The malfunction also caused cancelation of several early morning flights today out of Gainesville because the airlines did not have planes on the ground as planned.

There is no official confirmation of what caused the system to go down.

Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org