FAA forced to ground flights due to system outages


The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed a system outage grounded domestic flights at most airports on Wednesday.

The Notice to Air Missions System, which sends out essential notices to pilots, had to be reloaded, according to the agency. Several airlines confirmed having problems with flights being given clearance to depart.

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“The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage. While some functions are beginning to come back on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited,” the agency tweeted just before 7 a.m.


In a follow-up tweet 20 minutes later, the FAA said that all domestic flights would be grounded to “allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.” At around 8:15 a.m., it confirmed that flights had resumed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.


United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines both confirmed the problems would affect flight operations, with United saying all domestic flights had been “temporarily delayed” pending more information from the FAA.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said early Wednesday morning that he is “in touch with FAA” and is “working to resolve this issue swiftly.”

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“I have been in touch with FAA this morning about an outage affecting a key system for providing safety information to pilots. FAA is working to resolve this issue swiftly and safely so that air traffic can resume normal operations, and will continue to provide updates,” Buttigieg tweeted just after 7 a.m.

More than 100 flights into, within, or out of the U.S. have been canceled, and more than 1,200 have been delayed Wednesday, per FlightAware.

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