The United States’ Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has ordered a temporary suspension of all domestic airline operations on Wednesday after a major system collapse that disrupted air traffic across the country.
Airlines and airports were left scrambling with news of the nationwide pause, as the White House said there was no immediate evidence of a cyberattack.
The FAA, which paused flights until 9:00 am (1400 GMT), said a key process had been “impaired” after a problem with its Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAM), which provides information to flight crews about hazards, changes to airport facilities and other essential information.
Join Our WhatsApp Channel for Exclusive Stories, News Reports, and Engaging Content. {Click Here}
ALSO READ: Tension as airlines mull flight cancellations, delays over worsening aviation fuel scarcity
The pause, it said, would allow “the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.”
Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said that he had been briefed by the transportation secretary and that “aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now.”
“They don’t know what the cause of it is, they expect in a couple of hours they’ll have a good sense of what caused it and will respond at that time,” Biden said.
ALSO READ: Here’s why Emirates Airlines is no longer flying to Nigeria
“The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage,” the agency said in a statement, adding that while “some functions are beginning to come back on line, National Airspace System operations remain limited.”