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The Federal Aviation Administration computer system outage that disrupted thousands of flights on Wednesday could set the stage for another clash between airlines and the agency.
Airlines and the FAA traded blame over the cause of mass flight delays and cancellations this summer, and carriers have lamented that the FAA has gone eight months without a Senate-confirmed administrator.
Wednesday’s outage — the most disruptive FAA failure in recent memory — sparked renewed calls for the agency to revamp its aging systems.
“Today’s FAA catastrophic system failure is a clear sign that America’s transportation network desperately needs significant upgrades. Americans deserve an end-to-end travel experience that is seamless and secure. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system,” Geoff Freeman, head of the U.S. Travel Association, which represents American Airlines, Delta and United, said in a statement.
The FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM — which notifies pilots of potential hazards on their route such as runway closures or airspace restrictions — failed late on Tuesday, grounding planes across the country for several hours on Wednesday morning.
Ripple effects from the initial disruptions resulted in mass delays and cancellations.
Airlines on Wednesday delayed more than 8,000 U.S. flights and canceled over 1,200 more, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Around one-third of flights at major hubs in New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C., were delayed.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged Wednesday afternoon that the FAA still did not know the source of the outage and didn’t rule out the possibility of nefarious activity such as a cyberattack but noted there was no evidence of foul play.
