Flights are now resuming after a computer outage with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) caused a nationwide grounding of flights from US airports.
American Airlines and United both confirmed to passengers waiting for flights that there was a nationwide system outage and as a result, they have delayed departures.
American Airlines said: “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 FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Centre (ATCSCC) website stated that a NOTAMS outage continues with technicians working to restore it but there is no current estimated time of restoration.
The NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions in the US) system is used to report potential hazards and important information to flight crews about airports and the state of flying.
According to the ATCSCC advisory, no new NOTAMS or amendments have been processed since 20:28 UTC yesterday,
In an update, the FAA said: “The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage. While some functions are beginning to come back on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited.”
According to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, 21,464 flights are due to depart US airports today leaving up to 2.9 million passengers potentially affected by the outage.
This ground stop order was lifted around 14:00 UTC with the FAA saying: “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“