BEIRUT, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- A software error at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport led to flights delays, causing great congestion in the airport's departure halls on Thursday and Friday, local media reported.
"Damage to a software belonging to Sita, a baggage management company, took place at around 11 p.m. on Thursday, causing great congestion at the airport," said Elnashra, an independent online newspaper.
Sita is a company that works on managing the flow of baggage from airline to airline and airport to airport.
The damage was fixed at 4:30 a.m. local time on Friday but it had already caused chaos at the airport with lots of flights being postponed.
The Middle East Airlines announced that it has postponed all of its flights on Friday for reasons beyond its control, according to Lebanon 24, a local news agency.
Officials have on many occasions voiced their concerns over the chaos taking place at Beirut's airport due to the old equipment and the increase of the number of passengers.
Member of Lebanese Parliament Nazih Najm emphasized last month the need to expand the airport and update its equipment.
"We need to expand the airport in a way that would increase its capacity to host 8 million passengers per year in addition to renewing its cooling systems, toilets, power generators and buying new baggage conveyers," he said.
Earlier this year, Lebanese Finance Ministry approved 18 million U.S. dollars in funding for the expansion of the airport.
Beirut airport's manager Fadi El Hassan announced Wednesday that renovation work will start in November.
