US Flights Resume Following Nationwide System Outage

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. After the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), scrambled to repair a system outage overnight that had halted all U.S. departures, flights began to resume their departures slowly and a ground stop was lifted.

“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. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem” In a Tweet, the FAA stated.

Prior to the pilot alerting system’s failure, the FAA had previously ordered domestic flights to be halted.

The FAA announced that shortly before 8:30 a.m. departures, flights were resumed at Newark or Atlanta airports. “due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.”

The FAA expects to establish a ground delay program to reduce the number of flights that are unable to take off for more than an hour. The FAA allowed flights already in flight to continue to their destinations.

U.S. President Joe Biden directed the Transportation Department’s investigation into the outage. He said that the cause was not known at the moment. Biden answered reporters at the White House when asked if the outage was caused by a cyberattack. “We don’t know.”

According to the FAA, it is working to restore a system that alerts aircraft to dangers and changes in airport facilities.

“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 on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited,” The FAA stated this via Twitter.

At 8:39 AM, a total of 3,704 U.S. airlines were experiencing delays. ET, FlightAware’s flight tracking website showed. At 8:39 a.m., 656 more flights were cancelled.

In Wednesday’s premarket trade, shares of U.S. carriers declined. Southwest Airlines fell 2.4% while Delta Air Lines Inc., United Airlines, and American Airlines were down around 1%.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

A NOTAM refers to a notice that provides information necessary for personnel who are involved with flight operations. However, it is not published by any other means.

Long-haul international flights can have information that runs up to 200 pages. It may include information such as runway closings, bird danger warnings, and construction obstacles.

United Airlines stated that it temporarily delayed all domestic flights

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