Air travel across US thrown into chaos after computer outage

The NOTAM system broke down late Tuesday, leading to more than 1,000 flight cancellations and more than 6,000 delayed flights by 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

By

National News

January 11, 2023 - 2:44 PM

A Southwest Airlines passenger jet takes off from Chicago’s Midway Airport as flight delays stemming from a computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought departures to a standstill across the U.S earlier Wednesday in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

NEW YORK (AP) — The world’s largest aircraft fleet was grounded for hours by a cascading outage in a government system that delayed or canceled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Wednesday.

The White House initially said that there was no evidence of a cyberattack behind the outage that ruined travel plans for millions of passengers. President Joe Biden said Wednesday morning that he’s directed the Department of Transportation to investigate.

Whatever the cause, the outage revealed how dependent the world’s largest economy is on air travel, and how dependent air travel is on an antiquated computer system called the Notice to Air Missions System, or NOTAM.

Related
January 1, 2022
December 27, 2021
October 12, 2021
January 21, 2019