United gets back in air after outage

CHICAGO – A five-hour computer outage that virtually shut down United Airlines Friday night and early Saturday is a stark reminder of how dependent airlines have become on technology.

United canceled 36 flights and delayed 100 worldwide.

The airline still had no explanation Saturday afternoon for the outage.

United spokesman Charles Hobart said late Saturday afternoon that the airline didn’t expect to cancel any more flights this weekend due to the computer problems, though delays might continue.

About the outage itself, airline personnel said only that it was caused by “a network connectivity issue.”