The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all domestic flights on Wednesday morning because of a computer outage.
The agency ordered that all domestic departures be halted until 6 a.m. Pacific Time as it worked to get a system that provides safety information to flight crews back online.
At about 6 a.m., the FAA issued a statement saying that air traffic operations were gradually resuming across the country and that the ground stop had been lifted. The agency is investigating the cause of the system problem.
Flights were resuming at Newark Liberty (EWR) and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) airports because of air traffic congestion at those locations.
Update 5: 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.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden was alerted to the issue and had instructed the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate the cause. The White House said that there was currently no evidence of a cyber attack.
The President has been briefed by the Secretary of Transportation this morning on the FAA 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.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) January 11, 2023