The Chicago air traffic control center that was disabled by a former employee setting fire to it reopened early Monday morning after weeks of disrupted air travel nationwide. A full team of air traffic controllers returned to work around 1 a.m. at the En Route Center in Aurora, bringing back control capacity from nearby air traffic centers. Around 200 employees from Aurora had been working at other FAA control centers to monitor flights since September 26, FAA officials said in a statement. Up: FAA controllers returned to En Route Center in Aurora, taking control of Chicago airports from nearby centers who had been lending control capacity
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FAA flight controllers returned to work at En Route Center in Aurora at 1 a.m. Monday, taking over control from nearby centers
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The air traffic control center had been out of service since September 26, when it was evacuated following a fire set by a disgruntled employee
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In the weeks following the fire, technicians worked around the clock while other air traffic control centers monitored Chicago-area flights
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O'Hare and Midway airports were operating at 85 percent capacity as late as October 1
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A lawyer for Brian Howard, 36, who is accused of setting the fire before trying to cut his throat with a knife, called his actions a 'tragic mistake'
A FAA technical team will remain in @placeholder until Tuesday to supervise the transition