Thousands of flights across the U.S. were delayed early Wednesday due to a systems outage from the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) system, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
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Flight Aware, per The New York Times, showed some 4,500 flights departing from and arriving in the United States, or within it, were delayed on Wednesday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Tweeted that “there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point.”
Cleared Update No. 2 for all stakeholders: ⁰⁰The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage. ⁰⁰While some functions are beginning to come back on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited.
— The FAA (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
What is the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) system?
The FAA uses the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAMs, to alert “personnel concerned with flight operations,” about any issues in the country’s airspace, which is officially known as the National Airspace System (NAS).
Following an outage, around 7:20 a.m. EST, the FAA asked all domestic flights to pause departure until 9 a.m. ET.
At around 8:15 a.m. EST, the FAA Tweeted, “Update 4: The FAA is making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at @EWRairport and @ATLairport due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.”
The agency followed up about 40 minutes later to say that 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,” the agency added.
Customers seemed annoyed. “Total mess at the gate,” one user wrote, who said they were in the Honolulu airport.
AT HNL @AmericanAir total mess at the gate.
— christophe touchard (@CTOUCHARD0267) January 11, 2023
“An FAA outage is impacting all flights including all carriers. We sincerely appreciate your patience as they work to resolve this,” American Airline’s Twitter account wrote back.
An FAA outage is impacting all flights including all carriers. We sincerely appreciate your patience as they work to resolve this.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) January 11, 2023