The matter is being investigated by the US Department of Transportation. The purpose of the investigations is to identify the cause, but also to prevent the same paralysis scenario from repeating itself in the future
By Athena Papakosta
Thousands of flights in the United States of America were canceled or delayed after the “blackout” in the electronic security system of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the country. The notification order to suspend departures of all domestic flights brought chaos to airports and inconvenience to millions of passengers.
The White House said there was no evidence that the malfunction that grounded thousands of flights was result of a cyber attack. According to the US president himself, Joe Biden, the issue is being investigated by the country’s Ministry of Transportation. The purpose of the investigations is to identify the cause and also to prevent the same paralysis scene from repeating itself in the future.
The debate on the matter opens up further as analysts say how dependent the powerful country of the United States is for its aviation on an “antiquated” information system that issues Notice to Air alerts Missions (NOTAM) for pilots.
In more detail, the specific system warns pilots about weather conditions, changes in facilities and various airport procedures.
The fault was not repaired until late Wednesday afternoon, leading to at least 1,200 flight cancellations and more than 8,500 delays on the country’s east coast. However, the chaos continues and is even expected to continue today as it will take many hours for the flow of flights to return to normal.
At the gates of the airports, the traffic is increased with many flights waiting after hours of delay while a new day has dawned and to the sum of these new itineraries will be added with those canceled yesterday being rescheduled for the following days.
On Wednesday alone, at least 21,000 domestic flights were scheduled while another 1,840 international flights were expected to arrive in the country.
American Airlines – which carries the largest number of passengers in North America – is also working with the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce disruption to the traveling public.
But the system is already overburdened and airline and airport staff will have to test their endurance as their hours will need to be extended to cope with the new heavy schedule.
At the same time, problems are detected at both airports of the French capital, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, with regard to flights destined for the United States of America.
Air France was placed on the matter, which emphasized that it is monitoring the situation. Delays are also found on Virgin Airlines for flights from the United Kingdom, while British Airways emphasized that its routes will be on time. A smaller basket was kept by German Lufthansa and Spanish Iberia, which noted that – for now – flights to the USA are operating normally.
It was the first time in two decades that the United States of America “saw” aircraft remain grounded at its airports following an order by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The last time the country experienced something similar was on the morning of September 11, 2001. Then the cause was the coordinated terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
But this time the reason is due to a technical failure in the electronic system but no one has yet established what the cause of this is and the systems stopped processing the NOTAM notifications required for the pilots.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
