11:07 a.m. May 2, 2004

ATLANTA – A computer glitch that grounded Delta Air Lines flights to and from Atlanta for about 6 1/2 hours and caused delays over the weekend has been solved, and the airline was trying to determine the cause of the malfunction.

"We are still investigating that and we don't have information yet as to the exact nature of the problem," Liza Caceres, a spokeswoman for the nation's third-largest airline, said Sunday.

Delays related to the glitch began Saturday at airports nationwide and were cleared by midmorning Sunday, she said.

Delta told the Federal Aviation Administration it had a problem with dispatch computers, which calculate weight and balance and handle information related to preparation for flight, plus gate information, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

The problem began at 2:50 p.m. Saturday and computers finally were back online at 9:30 p.m. – after flights had been grounded for 6 1/2 hours.

Flights in the air at the time the glitch occurred were allowed to land in Atlanta, and "selected" flights were allowed to leave Atlanta while the computer was down, Caceres said. She would not elaborate.

The airline was not expected to release the number of flights affected by the computer glitch before Monday, Caceres said.

The airline had said Saturday that only Atlanta-bound flights were affected. On Sunday, it said outbound flights also had been grounded.

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