Flights delayed across US after FAA system outage

Bloomberg

The failure of a key pilot notification system operated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) disrupted air travel in the US early on Wednesday morning, with United Airlines Holdings Inc. temporarily grounding flights to all destinations.
Scores of passengers due to fly domestically reported delays on social media, and there was no estimate available for the restoration of the Notice to Air Missions system, or Notam, which conveys urgent advisory information essential for flight operations. Tracking website FlightAware already listed more than 1,160 US delays.
The Notam system provides airlines with real time safety information for flight planning. The US airlines association, Airlines for America, said it’s been notified about the disruptions, and that it’s “working with the FAA and awaiting further information regarding when these issues will be resolved.” Shares of United and American Airlines Group Inc. were both more than 1% lower in premarket trading.
The information conveyed on Notam can be as basic as airport weather and active taxiways or as complicated as temporary airspace closures due to a space launch or presidential travel. Pilots at all stages of training and experience are drilled in relying on the data.
A hotline has been activated, the FAA said on its website. No new Notam’s or amendments have been processed after the system failed late on Tuesday night, the FAA said, adding that technicians are working to restore operations.
The administration said later that some systems were starting to come back online, though operations remain “limited.”
“We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now,” the FAA said.
The new disruptions follow closely on a December operations meltdown at Southwest Airlines Co. that forced it to cancel more than 16,700 flights and drove the airline to a fourth-quarter loss.