After a Federal Aviation Administration system breakdown prompted hundreds of aircraft delays and cancellations across the United States on Wednesday, the airline sector gradually restored operations.
The FAA temporarily halted all domestic aircraft departures across the United States on Wednesday morning, lifting the ground stop at 9 a.m. ET after restoring a system that sends pilots pre-flight safety alerts.
US Flight Delays
Nevertheless, airlines continued to postpone or cancel flights due to persistent congestion. The FAA's website displayed ground delays at certain airports by late Wednesday afternoon.
United Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines have all announced that they have halted their flights in reaction to the situation. United and Delta issued travel waivers due to the disruption. American Airlines stated that passengers might rebook their flights without additional costs on Wednesday and Thursday, CNN reported.
As of 6 p.m. ET, FlightAware said that more than 9,500 flights to, from, and within the United States were delayed, and more than 1,300 flights had been canceled.
Southwest, which slowed thousands of flights after Christmas due to a systemwide collapse, was severely affected, with over 400 flights canceled. As of 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, around 10% of Southwest's flights had been canceled, and roughly 50% had been delayed. Southwest stated that operations had resumed by mid-morning.
"Due to the FAA's outage, we expect some schedule alterations throughout the day," Southwest said, urging passengers to check their flight status online or via the airline's app.
Additionally, Southwest has provided a waiver for passengers to rearrange their flights. American Airlines was also severely affected: as of Wednesday lunchtime, American has canceled over 400 flights, including those of feeder airlines that employ regional planes.
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FAA Technical Failures
More than 2,900 flights were canceled, with New York's LaGuardia Airport and Washington's National Airport having the highest number of cancellations, each with over sixty. According to NY Post, the ground halt at Denver International Airport remained in place.
According to the FAA, the NOTAM system transmits information "important to flight operations personnel." Important messages such as runway closures, bird hazard alerts, and low-altitude construction impediments are included in the data. Early Wednesday morning, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that President Biden had been updated on the outage by the Transportation Secretary.
Lauren Serling, 33, of Rockville Centre, was flying to Nashville, Tennessee, so her two-year-old son could have professional neurosurgery on a spinal nerve. Many travelers, including some passengers at New York's LaGuardia Airport, resorted to Twitter to express their displeasure with the chaos.
NOTAMs were formerly referred to as Notices to Airmen, but in 2021, the government agency adopted gender-neutral language. The NOTAM system provides pilots with real-time information on potential flying dangers and warnings. Due to technical challenges on Tuesday, FAA authorities opted to reload the system early on Wednesday.
However, the reboot took longer than anticipated, and at 7:30 a.m., the agency halted all domestic departures while continuing to restore the NOTAM system. The ground halt was lifted before 9:00 a.m., as per The Hill. FlightAware said that as of Wednesday night, around 9,700 flights had been delayed, and another 1,300 had been canceled due to the disruption.
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