All outbound flights from the US halted due to FAA computer glitch

NEW YORK (AP) — A computer glitch at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights across the US to a halt on Wednesday, and hundreds of delays quickly swept through the system at airports across the country.

The FAA has ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until 9 a.m. ET, although airlines have said they are aware of the situation and have already started landing flights.

More than 2,500 flights within, to and from the United States were delayed at 8 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware, more than all delayed flights the previous day. More than 150 have been cancelled.

These numbers are likely to grow.

More than 21,000 flights are scheduled to depart the US today, mostly domestic flights, and about 1,840 international flights are expected to operate from the US, according to aircraft maker Cirium.

The White House said there was no evidence of a cyberattack, but President Joe Biden instructed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the failure.

President Joe Biden addressed the FAA on Wednesday before leaving the White House. He said he had just been briefed by Transportation Minister Pete Buttigieg, who told him they still haven’t determined what went wrong.

“I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don’t know what is the reason. But I talked to him on the phone for about 10 minutes,” Biden said. “I told him to report directly to me when they found out. Air traffic can still land safely, just won’t take off right now. We don’t know what the reason is.”

Buttigieg said on Twitter that he is in touch with the FAA and is monitoring the situation.

Most of the delays were concentrated on the east coast, but began to spread to the west. Inbound international flights at Miami International Airport continued to land, but all departures were delayed from 6:30 a.m., airport spokesman Greg Chin said.

The FAA said it is working to restore its air mission notification system.

“We are now conducting final checks and rebooting the system,” the FAA said. “Operations through the national airspace system are affected.”

The agency said some functions are beginning to return to service, but “national airspace system operations remain limited.”

United Airlines said it has temporarily delayed all domestic flights and will release an update once it learns more from the FAA. American Airlines said they are monitoring the situation closely.

Julia McPherson was on a United Airlines flight from Sydney to Los Angeles on Wednesday when she became aware of potential delays.

“While I was in the air, I received news from a friend of mine who was also traveling overseas that there was a power outage,” said McPherson, who was returning to Florida from Hobart, Tasmania. After she lands in Los Angeles, she still has a Denver connection on her flight to Jacksonville, Florida.

She said there were no announcements of a problem with the FAA during the flight.

McPherson said she was already facing a delay in her travel because her original flight from Melbourne to San Francisco was canceled and she rebooked a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.

The FAA is working to restore the so-called air mission notification system.

Before flying, pilots should review NOTAMs or Air Mission Notices, which list the potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the potential for icing. The system used to be a telephone system and pilots called dedicated flight service stations for information, but now it has moved online.

Due to a failure, large-scale failures are possible. All aircraft must pass through the system, including commercial and military flights.

European flights to the US appear to have been largely unaffected.

Irish carrier Aer Lingus said flights to the US are continuing and Dublin Airport’s website says its flights to Newark, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles are on schedule.

“Aer Lingus plans to operate all scheduled transatlantic flights today,” the carrier said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor, but do not expect any disruption to our services due to a technical issue in the United States.”

The FAA said it will provide frequent updates as it progresses.

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