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US lifts ‘ground stop’ on flights after massive system outage | Top updates
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambled to fix the system outage, with passengers told to check with airlines for updates.
The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA started lifting a ground stop on flights across the US following a massive computer outage early on Wednesday that resulted in thousands of delays and hundreds of cancellations quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.
The FAA ordered all departing flights grounded early Wednesday morning, but lifted that order just before 9am Eastern Time (7:30pm Indian time) after several hours.
The FAA had stated that it was “experiencing an outage that is impeding the update of Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs)” and that “all flights are unable to be released at this time” due to the enormous glitch that caused flight delays.
Here's what we know so far:
> The FAA said normal air traffic operations were resuming gradually across the US 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,” it said.
> The FAA had ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9am Eastern Time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information. The FAA later tweeted that it was making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at Newark Liberty International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, it said.
Watch: USA 'grounds' all flights across all airports; Thousands of passengers stranded | Details
> A total of 2,512 flights were delayed within, into or out of the United States as of 1254 GMT, flight tracking website FlightAware showed, without citing reasons.
> Another 193 within, into or out of the country were cancelled. A total of 21,464 flights are scheduled to depart airports in the United States on Wednesday with a carrying capacity of nearly 2.9 million passengers, data from Cirium shows.
> American Airlines has the most departures from US airports with 4,819 flights scheduled, followed by Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, the Cirium data showed.
> The operator of Paris' international airports - Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly - said it expects delays to flights.
> Lufthansa and British Airways, owned by IAG, continue to operate flights to and from the United States as normal for now.
> Air India said that it was in touch with the relevant authority after flights across the US were grounded due to a technical glitch in the FAA computer system.
> Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said he had been briefed by the transportation secretary and that "aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now."
> White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that "there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point."
(With inputs from Reuters, AP, ANI)
