Flights Across The US Suspended Due to Security Breach
The United States is facing another major disruption to civil aviation as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the suspension of all domestic flights after a system providing pilots with pre-flight safety warnings went offline.
“We are now conducting final checks and rebooting the system,” the FAA said in a statement. This affects operations in the national airspace system. We will provide frequent updates as we progress.”
The FAA said in a statement that it has ordered airlines to suspend all domestic flights until 9 a.m. ET (5 p.m. ET) while it attempts to restore its NOTAM (Notification to Air Missions) system.
Despite the current situation, planes from Amsterdam and Paris continued to fly to the United States. A spokesman for Schiphol Airport said “a workaround has been proposed”. Flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport were not cancelled, but delays were expected. A spokesman for London Heathrow Airport said they were “not aware of any flight cancellations” but passengers reported significant delays.
Wednesday’s incident is the second major crisis to hit US civil aviation in weeks. A severe winter storm over the Christmas period caused extensive damage, including damage to infrastructure at the country’s airports, resulting in delays and cancellations of flights affecting thousands of passengers, the channel said.
