Status: 01/11/2023 10:07 p.m
A computer glitch has massively disrupted US air travel. Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled. The cause is unclear. The White House does not assume a cyber attack.
A computer glitch at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has caused chaos in domestic air traffic. Millions of passengers were unable to board their scheduled flights because they were either canceled entirely or delayed by many hours.
The FAA ordered all domestic flights grounded for several hours from early morning to 9:00 a.m. EST. The background was the failure of an outdated computer system called Notice to Air Missions Systems (Notam). Before every flight, pilots have to ask about possible restrictions on their route, be it construction work on a runway, the possibility of ice formation or other potential problems.
Notam used to be over the phone, and when it went down on Tuesday evening (US Eastern Time), it had to be switched back to a phone hotline. That went well overnight, but in the morning the number of flights was no longer manageable.
More than 1100 flights canceled, 7700 delayed
By midday, more than 1,100 flights had been canceled and 7,700 delayed, according to the FlightAware website. Due to the rescheduled flights, the chaos continued throughout the day. More than 21,000 flights are scheduled to depart from the United States, most with domestic destinations, according to aeronautical data company Cirium. Major airports in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta reported delays in 30 to 40 percent of their flights.
The White House said there was no evidence of a cyber attack. Still, President Joe Biden directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the disruption. Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg told CNN that lessons must be learned from the chaos. “We have to develop a system that is not so vulnerable.”
Outdated vulnerable computer system
Hundreds of flights were canceled in the United States just over Christmas due to a winter storm and missing crews at Southwest Airlines. However, experts said they did not believe that such a massive flight cancellation had ever been caused by a technological problem. “I don’t remember the notam system ever breaking down like that,” said John Cox, a former airline pilot turned aviation safety consultant. “I’ve been flying for 53 years.”
The former American Airlines top manager Tim Campbell made a similar statement. “Intermittently there have been localized problems here and there, but this is historically quite significant,” he said. There have been concerns about the notam system for a long time. While it’s fundamentally reliable, it’s just outdated, Campbell said.
European flights to the US appear to have been largely unaffected by the problem. Irish airline Aer Lingus said its operations to the US would continue. From Dublin, flights to Newark, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles should depart as planned. Lufthansa also reported no restrictions.
Computer failure at the flight control authority – hundreds of flights affected
Claudia Sarre, ARD Washington, January 11, 2023 5:50 p.m