Flights across the country are gradually resuming this morning after a computer outage today prompted the grounding of all flights in the United States, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
As of 5:30 a.m., there were more than 3,700 flights within, into and out of the United States that were delayed and more than 500 flights had been canceled. Flights out of Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport, Long Beach Airport and others in Southern California were affected by the computer outage.
Departures out of Atlanta and Newark, N.J., have resumed, the FAA said, and flights across the country are gradually beginning to resume as of 6:30 a.m. Flights in and out of Long Beach Aiport showed multiple delays and cancelations this morning.
In a notice on the FAA website, it says its Notice to Air Missions(NOTAM) system “failed” and led to the grounding of flights. The NOTAM system notifies workers of flight operations of essential information.
“The FAA has ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern Time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information,” the FAA tweeted.
President Joe Biden has been briefed by the Secretary of Transportation about the system outage.
“There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.
All flights in the sky during the outage are safe to land, the FAA tweeted.
The NOTAM system alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight, according to the FAA.