- Antoinette Radford
- BBC News
image source, Getty Images
All US domestic flights were disrupted until 9:00 a.m. Eastern time (2:00 p.m. GMT) due to a failure in the national control system’s Air Mission Warning System.
Currently, normal air traffic operations are gradually resuming in the United States following hours of delays, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The ruling occurred in system that alerts pilots to potential hazards on flight pathswhich led to the interruption of air traffic throughout the country and in which the FAA was working to restore it.
Still investigating the cause of the problem.
The FAA reported that flights that were currently in the sky might land safely.
Flights from Newark Airport in New Jersey and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport resumed slightly earlier than others due to air traffic congestion in those areas.
It is unknown what caused the failure
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, was informed of the situation and the White House declared that there is no evidence that it is a cyberattack “at this time.”
Speaking to reporters, the president said that the FAA still does not know what caused the problem, but that it will be informed when there is news.
“They hope to have a good idea of what caused it in a couple of hours and we will respond at that time,” Biden declared.
In a tweet, the White House Press Secretary said the president had called for a “full investigation.”
The FAA said the problem lies with its Air Mission Notification System.
Meanwhile, the airline United Airlines announced that it was delaying all its domestic flights until further information was received from the FAA.
Texas Austin-Bergstrom International Airport confirmed in a Tweet that “an FAA outage is causing ground stops at Austin (AUS) and other airports across the country” and indicated that passengers should expect delays.
US Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he had been in contact with the FAA on Wednesday morning and they were working to resolve the issue “quickly and safely.”
Passengers have posted on social media that they are experiencing flight delays and outages across the country.
