Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed in the United States Wednesday after national departures for hours due to an outage in a key computer system used by pilots.
The Federal Aviation Administration said normal operations were being restored, but the morning shutdown created an impact it expected to impact travel throughout the day.
“Normal air traffic operations are gradually resuming in the US,” the Federal Aviation Administration said on Twitter. “The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look for the cause of the initial problem.
The agency has identified problems with the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which informs flight crews about hazards, airport facility changes and information that could affect flights.
But the outage made for another day of hell for US travelers less than a month after a winter storm battered the system.
“I just found out my flight is delayed again,” Vince Hamilton said at Reagan National Airport near Washington about his plans to travel to Chicago. “Then I go to St. Louis, and I have to catch a bus that I’m probably going to miss.”
By 1900 GMT, about 1,200 flights in and out of the United States had been canceled, with more than 7,900 suffering delays, according to flight-tracking website Flight Aware, which does not publish data on domestic flights only.
The difficulty has prompted renewed criticism on Capitol Hill and across Washington of the FAA, which has not had an administrator confirmed since March.
The cause is unknown
The FAA announced the problem on Twitter at 6:29 a.m. Eastern (1129 GMT), saying it was working to restore the NOTAM system, announcing 50 minutes later that it had ordered a pause in all domestic departures until 9:00 a.m.
Flying experts say that the system contains various details that are very relevant, such as the runway being closed for less important things, such as the presence of cranes somewhere in or near the airport.
About 30 minutes after the FAA lifted the standoff order, the screens at Reagan National Airport went deep red as flights were delayed and only a few had left.
“Customers may continue to see some delays and cancellations as we work to restore our schedule,” United Airlines said shortly after the FAA’s stop order was lifted, adding that it will refund customers who no longer wish to travel.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that “there is no evidence of a cyber attack at this time.”
“The President ordered the DOT to conduct a full investigation into the cause. The FAA will provide regular updates,” he said, referring to the Department of Transportation.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the investigation will find “root causes” and lead to “next steps.”
Senator Maria Cantwell, the Democratic Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, also plans to follow suit.
“We will examine what caused this disruption and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future disruptions. The public needs a resilient air transportation system,” Cantwell said.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called the outage “completely unacceptable,” adding that “this incident also highlights why the public needs a competent and proven leader with substantive aviation experience leading the FAA.”
The White House last week named Phillip Washington the head of the aviation safety regulator, replacing former chief Stephen Dickson, who left office on March 31.
Washington was originally nominated in July, but the Senate did not schedule a confirmation hearing on Washington, with some lawmakers questioning his lack of an aviation background.
Washington served as head of Denver International Airport in 2021 after a long career in the US Army followed by other non-aviation transportation posts.
Travel industry officials said Wednesday’s crisis exposed a major vulnerability in U.S. infrastructure.
“Today’s catastrophic FAA system failure is a clear sign that America’s transportation network is in need of a significant upgrade,” said US Travel Association President Geoff Freeman.
The shutdown comes amid a large-scale aviation crisis in the United States over the Christmas holiday, as the storm brought unseasonably cold temperatures to much of the country and caused chaos, with thousands of flights delayed or canceled.
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights over eight days after what it said was a glitch in its scheduling system. The accident is also expected to be in the spotlight at congressional hearings.