US Halts All Domestic Flight Departures Over System Outage

The US Federal Aviation Authority ordered a temporary halt to all domestic flight departures Wednesday, after a major system outage that disrupted air traffic across the country

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jan, 2023 ) :The US Federal Aviation Authority ordered a temporary halt to all domestic flight departures Wednesday, after a major system outage that disrupted air traffic across the country.

Airlines and airports were left scrambling with news of the nationwide pause, as the White House said there was no immediate evidence of a cyberattack.

The FAA halted flights until 9:00 am (1400 GMT), but said it expected departures to resume at that time and that takeoffs had already begun at Newark and Atlanta airports due to air traffic congestion.

A key process, it said, had been "impaired" in an outage of its Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAM), which provides information to flight crews about hazards, changes to airport facilities and other essential information.

The pause, it said, would allow "the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information." Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said that he had been briefed by the transportation secretary and that "aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now.""They don't know what the cause of it is, they expect in a couple of hours they'll have a good sense of what caused it and will respond at that time," Biden said.

"The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage," the agency said in a statement, adding that while "some functions are beginning to come back on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited."