The computer outage forced the US Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (FAA) to temporarily suspend all domestic flights departing from the US on Wednesday morning, with the White House ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack at this point.
The FAA, at 9 a.m. on the country’s east coast (2 p.m. GMT), lifted the ban preventing all takeoffs and confirmed in a tweet that “normal air traffic operations are gradually resuming” across the country.
It has already warned that flights could resume at that time, once issues affecting the vital information system for pilots and crews are resolved.
The outage began overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. The FAA explained to “continue to investigate the cause of the initial problem”.
All domestic flights departing from the United States were suspended until 9:00 am, with the exception of Newark Liberty (western suburbs of New York) and Atlanta airports, where flights were able to resume earlier to avoid excessive traffic congestion.
When asked about the issue, US President Joe Biden said that he had spoken with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, but he did not know the origin of the collapse at the present time.
“Planes can still land safely, but don’t take off at this time,” Biden said before lifting the take-off ban.
He added that the organizers “don’t know why, expect that in a few hours they will have a better idea and will react at that time.”
White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said on Twitter that “there is no indication at this point that this was a cyberattack.”
Many airports in North America (Ottawa, Baltimore, Austin, Boston…) have warned to expect delays and asked travelers to check the status of their flight before going to the airport.
United Airlines confirmed in a message sent to Agence France-Presse that the Federal Aviation Administration had lifted the suspension and had resumed operations.
United adds, “Customers may continue to experience delays and cancellations while we work to restore our software, and they should check” the company’s app or website for the latest information on their flight.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and working with the Federal Aviation Administration to minimize disruption for customers,” American Airlines said in a separate statement.
This episode of turmoil at US airports comes sometime after a major Christmastime mayhem triggered by a severe cold snap and snowfall, which was dragged on for days by cascading cancellations within Southwest.
Affected by Wednesday’s outage, the Notice To Air Missions (NOTAM) system provides flight crews with information about hazards, airport developments and other critical information.
This system is “fundamental in the information required to conduct ground/air operations,” Michele Merlozzo, an analyst at Cabinet AIR, explained to AFP.
He continued, “This may include airport information, special activities such as military operations, or temporary flight restrictions.”
There were nearly 4,600 delayed flights in the United States as of 9:25 a.m. (2:25 p.m. GMT) on the country’s east coast, according to flight-tracking website Flight Aware. It was not clear how many delays were related to the outage.
21,464 flights are expected to take off from the United States on Wednesday, the vast majority of domestic flights, according to figures from specialist company Joliet Alpha. About 2 million passengers are likely to be affected by the accident.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Twitter that he had called for an investigation “to determine the causes (of the collapse) and recommend next steps.”
