One issue airlines are facing is trying to get planes in and out of crowded gates, causing further delays. This is going to cause ripple effects,' said Torres, whose members fly for American Airlines. That doesn't mean the problem stops at 9 a.m. It could affect traffic through Friday, said Captain Chris Torres, vice president of the Allied Pilots Association. The outage occurred at a typically slow time after the holiday travel season, but demand remains strong as travel continues to recover to near pre-pandemic levels. EST on Tuesday, which meant no new messages could be processed. EST.Īn FAA advisory said the system that provides so-called Notices to Air Missions with safety messages for pilots and others failed about 3:30 p.m. The White House said President Joe Biden had confidence in Buttigieg.īuttigieg told reporters a backup system went into effect on Tuesday but questions were raised about the system's performance, which led to a complete reboot of the system and prompted the FAA to issue the ground stop about 7:30 a.m. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN the ground stop was the 'right call' to make sure messages were getting sent correctly and there was no direct evidence of cyberattack. The same file corrupted both the main system and its backup, said people familiar with the review, who asked not to be identified.įAA officials said they were working to 'further pinpoint the causes' so the problem could be avoided in the future. The FAA computer issue had prevented airports from filing updated safety notices that warn pilots of potential hazards such as runway closures, poor weather and construction, bringing flights to a temporary halt.įAA officials said a preliminary review traced the problem to a damaged database file, but added that there was no evidence of a cyberattack and that the investigation was continuing.

Major carriers, such as Southwest Airlines Co, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, all reported 40% or more of flights Wednesday delayed or canceled, though airline officials expressed confidence that normal operations could largely return by Thursday.

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