An overnight computer system outage at the Federal Aviation Administration set in motion disruptions that delayed more than 900 flights in or out of Denver International Airport on Wednesday after the agency grounded all domestic departures for several hours.
Departures from Denver International Airport also were on a ground stop just before 10 a.m. due to airspace volume, according to the FAA’s live airport status website. But the ground stop soon was allowed to expire, and operations have mostly resumed.
Denver International Airport officials said on Twitter delays were expected throughout the day.
“We expect many delays and some cancellations throughout the day,” the tweet read.
We anticipate our domestic flights to resume flight operations soon. Passengers should check their flight status with their airline before heading to DEN. We expect many delays and some cancellations throughout the day. https://t.co/L7iP65RaZm
— Denver Int'l Airport (@DENAirport) January 11, 2023
The FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system, which pilots use to check for closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect their flights, shut down about 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
All domestic departures in the U.S. were grounded at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, but even as flights were gradually being allowed to resume by 7 a.m. as the FAA restored the system, the effects are still being felt as thousands of flights across the U.S. were delayed.
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.
We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
More than 8,500 flights were delayed and more than 1,200 were canceled Wednesday, AP reported.
Locally, DIA had 508 departing flights delayed and another 406 arrivals delayed throughout the day as of 5:45 p.m., according to FlightAware. United Airlines had the most flights delays, with 341 in or out of Denver, and Southwest Airlines had 279, with regional jet operator SkyWest at 141.
There were also 72 canceled flights through Denver, most on Southwest.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday night he had been briefed by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on the situation and directed him to investigate the cause.
“I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don’t know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes,” Biden said. “I told him to report directly to me when they find out. Air traffic can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don’t know what the cause of it is.”
Buttigieg said in a tweet that he is in touch with the FAA and monitoring the situation.
The air travel turmoil came just weeks after a winter storm caused nationwide havoc with air travel around the Christmas holiday, followed by a week-long system meltdown by Southwest Airlines.
