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Flights resuming in Spokane and across U.S. after FAA system failure

The information displays at Spokane International Airport shows the prevalence of flight delays caused by overnight computer problem’s in the Federal Aviation Administration’s system, causing one to two hour delays across the country and across all airlines Monday, Jan. 11, (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
The information displays at Spokane International Airport shows the prevalence of flight delays caused by overnight computer problem’s in the Federal Aviation Administration’s system, causing one to two hour delays across the country and across all airlines Monday, Jan. 11, (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)Buy a print of this photo
From staff and wire New York Times

From staff and wire reports

Flights were taking off again Wednesday after an early morning Federal Aviation Administration system failure left pilots, airlines and airports without crucial safety information.

The FAA still had not provided a detailed cause of the overnight system collapse, which officials attributed to irregularities. An order to stop all departures across the United States was lifted shortly before 9 a.m., allowing normal air traffic operations to gradually resume.

More than 10,000 flights within, into or out of the United States had been delayed Wednesday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. The delays were spread across the country and affected multiple carriers.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who leads the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a statement her panel will investigate the cause of the system outage.

“The No. 1 priority is safety,” Cantwell said. “As the Committee prepares for FAA reauthorization legislation, we will be looking into what caused this outage and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future outages. The public needs a resilient air transportation system.”

Nearly all flights into Spokane International Airport scheduled to arrive before 10 a.m. were delayed, mostly by an hour or two. Flights leaving Spokane also were running late. As of 7:30 a.m. some were delayed by only 10 minutes or so, but some by much longer. A Delta flight to Seattle originally scheduled to depart at 5:11 a.m. was rescheduled to leave at 10 a.m.

Lines for security and baggage check remained short on Wednesday morning, but some travelers were still inconvenienced by the delays.

“I’m working to keep my Zen,” said Molly Carlson, a traveler who had taken up a seat at the airport with her headphones and knitting needles in hand. “I’m grateful for knitting and audiobooks.”

Carlson arrived at the Spokane Airport at 5:15 a.m. for 7 a.m. connecting flight to Seattle, but her flight was delayed until 3:40 p.m., she said.

“I’ll get home well after midnight,” said Carlson, who has to drive an hour from O’Hare International Airport to her home.

Melissa Patterson, traveling from Spokane to San Francisco, was also waiting at the airport on Wednesday morning for an hour more than she had expected.

“It’s just annoying,” said Patterson, also visiting family in Spokane.

There were 21 flights that had been delayed at the Spokane airport by 8:15 a.m., according to FlightAware. No flights had been canceled.

Passengers across the country said their plans had been scuttled, with airport employees sometimes knowing little more than passengers.

President Joe Biden said that he had spoken with Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, and that he had asked him to report back when a cause for the failure had been identified. There was no evidence of a cyberattack, the administration said.

Rep. Rick Larsen of Everett, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement he had also spoken with Buttigieg on Wednesday morning and would monitor the disruption until it was resolved. The panel’s GOP chairman, Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, said in a statement he expected the FAA to provide a briefing to members of Congress on the situation.

The FAA said the disruption was caused by an outage to a system that sends real-time safety alerts to pilots, called Notice to Air Mission alerts, which are crucial to planning flights and used to share information about hazards in the air or on the ground.

“We are going to see the ripple effects from that, this morning’s delays, working through the system during the day,” Buttigieg said on CNN. “Now we have to understand how this could have happened in the first place.”

Reporting from the New York Times and S-R staff writers Orion Donovan-Smith and Quinn Welsch.