However, the cumulative effect of the stoppage was the delay of more than 7,000 flights into and out of the U. S. and 1,000 cancellations, with those numbers continuing to snowball through the morning. Not long after the news spread, many speculated about the reasons for the outage.
Around 9 a. m. the FAA tweeted that normal air traffic operations were "resuming gradually," and that the agency would "continue to look into the cause of the initial problem. "
Soon after the stoppage ended, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg tweeted that he was directing an after-action inquiry to "determine root causes. "
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted around 7. 40 một. m. EST, "There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed [Department of Transportation] to conduct a full investigation into the causes. "
In an interview with CNN around midday that day, Buttigieg responded to questions on whether the outage was a result of a cyberattack. "There's been no direct evidence or indication of that, but we are also not going to rule that out until we have a clear and better understanding of what's taken place," he said.
He also said the dramatic stoppage of flights was out of an abundance of caution. "FAA will always act to make sure that passengers are safe," he said. "Part of what you saw this morning was an act of caution to be sure — until it was 100% airtight that the system was working properly even just delivering messages — that we had that ground stop. "
So what really happened? Before a flight commences, pilots are required to consult the Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMS), which detail potential adverse effects on flights, like runway constructions, icing, etc. Before, pilots used to call flight service stations on the phone for this information, but now this service is online. According to the FAA, the NOTAM system broke down at 8. 28 trang. m. EST on Jan. 10, 2023, preventing important updates and notices from being distributed to pilots. The agency resorted to a telephone hotline to allow departures to continue overnight, but the system was soon unable to handle the daytime traffic.
NOTAMS was created in 1947, according to The New York Times, and modeled after similar messages used to alert ship captains to hazards at sea.
Military air traffic was not impacted because the military has its own NOTAMS system that is separate from the FAA. European air traffic into the U. S. also did not appear to be impacted.
On the evening of Jan. 11, 2023, officials had traced the problem to a corrupted file. "The FAA is continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage," the agency said in a statement. "Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file. At this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack. "
Given that we have no more publicly available information about the reasons behind the NOTAM outage and the flight disruptions, we will continue to monitor the situation and update this story when we learn more.
On January 11, 2023, all domestic airline passengers awoke to an unexpected travel surprise. The FAA enacted a nationwide ground stop until 9 a. m. EST due to a critical technology outage. Here is a closer look at the intricate details and the lingering effects on air travel
Passengers wait for their flights at LaGuardia airport in New York on January 11, 2023. - The US . [+] Federal Aviation Authority said Wednesday that normal flight operations "are resuming gradually" across the country following an overnight systems outage that grounded departures. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty ImagesWhat Is A Ground Stop?
A ground stop is when all commercial air travel is halted, and the planes remain on the tarmac for safety reasons
In this instance, the travel freeze was due to an overnight outage for the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) system. This digital infrastructure provides vital safety details to airports and flight crews to prevent accidents
For example, NOTAM plans flight routes and also sends alerts about potential dangers in the air and ground. However, this national flight awareness system operates separately from air traffic control platforms
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began resuming flights from Newark International Airport (EWR) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) at approximately 8. 15 giờ một. m
The nationwide ground stop was lifted at 8. 50 một. m. , with flights across the United States resuming. This stop affected all domestic departures, though the total number of delayed flights hasn’t been released yet
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The root cause of the technical outage is under investigation. Initial reports indicate that the outage wasn’t intentional or malicious
What Travelers Can Do
This is the second substantial air travel delay in the past month, with the historic Christmas Week blizzard being the first. The first outage had a more significant impact as it persisted for several days and resulted in excessive Southwest Airlines flight cancellations
There isn’t a foolproof way for travelers to avoid a nationwide outage like the FAA ground stop unless they use ground transportation instead. Thankfully, this delay occurred on a non-holiday and lasted only several hours, but its ripple effects will impact air travel for the immediate future
Passengers impacted by this delay should work with the airline to reschedule their flight and receive delay-related compensation such as meal vouchers. Those with a credit card or standalone travel insurance policy should see if they can submit a claim for benefits
Final Thoughts
Thankfully, nationwide technology outages don’t happen often, and the industry will catch up from this delay soon. It’s best to keep a flexible travel schedule as much as possible to absorb standard delays and unexpected challenges