US air traffic ops resume after over 5,400 flights got delayed in massive technical chaos
Washington/IBNS: After over 5,400 United States domestic flights were halted or delayed over a technical glitch, air traffic services resumed in the country on Wednesday evening (India time), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
All flights in the US were grounded following a technical glitch with a computer system in an unprecedented disruption.
Flight tracking website FlightAware reported about 5,400 flights within, into or out of the United States had been delayed till 7 am US Eastern Time.
An additional 100 flights were also cancelled.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the country.
Update 5: Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem
It had earlier asked airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 am US Eastern Time while they were working to restore a system that alerts pilots to hazards and changes to airport facilities and procedures that had stopped processing updated information.
Following the direction from the FAA, American Air tweeted: "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is experiencing a nationwide system outage that affects all airlines. We're closely monitoring the situation and working with the FAA to minimize customer disruptions."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is experiencing a nationwide system outage that affects all airlines. We're closely monitoring the situation and working with the FAA to minimize customer disruptions.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) January 11, 2023
In an advisory, the civil aviation regulator said its NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system had "failed".
There was no immediate estimate for when it would be back, the website showed, though NOTAMs issued before the outage was still viewable.
United Airlines also said they temporarily delayed domestic flights until they heard more from the FAA.