Passengers exit a bus at Terminal 2 as they wait for the resumption of flights at O’Hare International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered airlines to suspend all domestic departures due to a disruption in the system, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Passengers flying out of the U.S. on airlines such as Air India could expect some delays after a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system outage forced a brief halt to all flights departing from the U.S.
U.S. flights were gradually beginning to resume departures after the FAA lifted its overnight order for all domestic flights to stop departures for a couple of hours. Airline sources say this had led to congestion on runways, leading to massive delays.
“Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem,” the FAA posted on Twitter.
There was no evidence of a cyberattack, the White House said.
Air India, which operates 41 weekly flights to five destinations in the U.S. from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru expected to see initial delays on at least two flights scheduled to fly out on Thursday due to the congestion on airport runways and a spill-over impact across airlines.
But this too was expected to be resolved sooner than later, as the FAA lifted the order.
“Customers could continue to see some delays and cancellations as we work to restore our schedule,” said United Airlines. It offered its passengers travel waivers for those who wanted to cancel or reschedule their flights.
More than 5,400 flights had been delayed and 900 cancelled, according to the FlightAware website.
Crucial updates
The affected system is known as the Notice to Air Missions or NOTAM and is a digital display board of crucial safety updates such as alerts to pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.
“We are working closely with the relevant authorities and following careful assessment, continue to operate our schedule of U.S. flights departing from the U.K. Due to FAA restrictions, some U.S. departures may be affected by delays,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said.
A Lufthansa spokesperson said its flights out of the U.S. were operating “as scheduled”.
Airlines like Vistara which fly to European destinations such as London, Paris and Frankfurt said they didn’t expect an impact on operations.
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