Airlines have been ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States to pause all departures of domestic flights until 9:00 in the morning Eastern Standard Time today, Wednesday, January 11, 2023 to allow the federal agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.
Travel Alert January 11 2023: Flights Temporarily Grounded Throughout the United States
Final validation checks of the Notice to Air Missions System — which suffered from an outage overnight — are currently being performed and reloading the system now; and according to a notice which was posted at the official Internet web site of the agency, “Departures are resuming at Newark Liberty (EWR) and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) airports due to air traffic congestion in those areas.”
Although some of the functionality of the Notice to Air Missions System is beginning to be restored and “come back on line,” the operations of the National Airspace System remain limited.
Updates have also been posted to the official Twitter account of the Federal Aviation Administration. “Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.”
The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System. We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now.
Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.
We will provide frequent updates as we make progress.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
The following notice was issued by the federal agency moments ago: “All flights currently in the sky are safe to land. Pilots check the NOTAM system before they fly. A Notice to Air Missions alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.”
All flights currently in the sky are safe to land. Pilots check the NOTAM system before they fly. A Notice to Air Missions alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
Complete details of what caused the Notice to Air Missions System have not yet been disclosed at the time this article was written — but frequent updates from the Federal Aviation Administration have been promised; and in its fifth update, “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.”
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
At least 4,314 flights were delayed; and a minimum of 737 additional flights were canceled. Recovery from pausing flights is expected to take hours.
Final Boarding Call
Whether the outage of the Notice to Air Missions System is a cause for concern is unknown at the time this article was written.
Regardless, expect delays if you are scheduled to fly as a passenger aboard an airplane today; and be sure to contact your airline for the latest information pertaining to your travels.
Photograph ©2010 by Brian Cohen.
