As many as 1,230 flights were delayed across the United States due to a system outage at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday. An additional 103 flights within, into, or out of the United States were also canceled, as per the flight tracking website FlightAware.
The FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 am ET (1400 GMT) to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information. Several airports, including Philadelphia, Tampa, Florida, and Austin, Texas, advised passengers to check with their airlines for the latest news.
White House rules our cyber attack
Meanwhile, the White House has ruled out a cyber attack on the FAA system outage. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden had ordered an investigation. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said, “Aircraft can still land safely but not take off right now.”
Some operators continue flights
While United Airlines said it has temporarily delayed all domestic flights, Lufthansa and Air France said they were continuing to operate flights to and from the United States.
Amid delays at airports across the country due to “ground stops,” the FAA said it was working to restore the system that alerts pilots of hazards and changes to airport facilities and procedures that had stopped processing updated information. A ground stop is a measure deployed to slow or halt aircraft at airports to control air traffic.
“The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system following an outage. While some functions are beginning to come back online, National Airspace System operations remain limited,” it said on Twitter.
A NOTAM contains information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations. Communication can go up to 200 pages for long-haul flights and may include runway closures and bird hazard warnings.
The FAA said that it would provide frequent updates as it made progress.
A total of 21,464 flights are scheduled to depart airports in the United States on Wednesday, carrying nearly 2.9 million passengers, according to data from Cerium.
Source
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