An outdated communications system, which became overloaded and went offline, is behind the unprecedented aviation chaos in the United States, which led to nearly 8,000 flight cancellations and left tens of thousands of passengers stranded at airports.
The disruption, which lasted more than four hours, was the largest nationwide flight suspension in the country since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
U.S. authorities warn that it will take several days to fully restore normal operations, while the cost of the necessary upgrade to the air traffic control system is estimated at $50 billion.
How the air traffic control system collapsed
U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, explained at a press conference on Friday evening that the crisis was caused by the overload of the air traffic control service’s outdated communications system.
“It is an analog telecommunications system. Our switches and routers were overwhelmed by the volume of data and went offline,” he said.
READ ALSO: Thousands of passengers stranded in the U.S. due to flight blackout; airspace reopened after 4.5 hours (PHOTO)
The malfunction affected both communications and radar systems, highlighting the need for a complete upgrade of the system, the cost of which Duffy estimated at $50 billion.
“It will continue to malfunction,” he warned.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Malin, stated that the introduction of new technologies into an outdated air traffic control system caused it to become overloaded.
At the same time, he clarified that authorities have found “absolutely no evidence” of a cyberattack, while ruling out any connection to the widespread outage of Microsoft services that began on Thursday.
Both ministers assured the public that public safety was never at risk at any point.
Thousands of flights were canceled, and more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air
According to data from FlightAware, the suspension of takeoffs caused more than 8,500 delays and nearly 8,000 flight cancellations on Friday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced at 3:54 p.m., Eastern Time (8:54 p.m. GMT), that all flights scheduled to depart from U.S. airports were grounded until further notice.
At that time, more than 3,500 aircraft were already in the air. Some were diverted to alternate airports, while others continued on to their destinations.
Several hours later, some flights were cleared for takeoff from San Francisco International Airport before the FAA reopened U.S. airspace at 8:15 p.m., Eastern Time.
The agency attributed the suspension of takeoffs to “exceptional circumstances” caused by a communications problem that affected all air traffic control centers.
The impact extended to Europe and Australia
The disruption was not limited to the U.S., as international flights were also affected.
According to the Eurocontrol website, all flights to the U.S. from the organization’s member states were suspended “at the request of the FAA, due to technical problems.”
Eurocontrol has 42 member states, including dozens of European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, and Morocco.
In Australia, Sydney Airport, the country’s largest international airport, has suspended all flights to the U.S. until further notice.
Similarly, Air Canada has canceled flights between the U.S. and Canada.
Tens of thousands of stranded passengers: When will flights return to normal?
Despite the reopening of U.S. airspace, the consequences of the disruption are expected to last several days.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the disruption will cause a ripple effect on airline schedules.
“It will take time to deal with the consequences of what happened this afternoon,” he said.
As he pointed out, tens of thousands of people were stranded at airports across the country, many of whom did not know “where they would sleep tonight.”
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines announced that they had begun resuming flights, while American Airlines stated that it was “focusing on operating as many of the remaining flights as possible tonight.”
JetBlue, for its part, announced that it would resume flights on Saturday morning.
The longest suspension since September 11: What happened in 2023
Friday’s incident was only the second nationwide suspension of takeoffs since the U.S. authorities’ immediate response to the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
“It appears to be the worst incident since September 11, although obviously not on the same scale,” Dr. Guy Gratton, associate professor of Aviation at Cranfield University, told BBC Verify.
He recalled a similar incident in the U.S. in 2023, when a malfunction in the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system led to aircraft being grounded.
“That outage lasted one hour and 52 minutes, caused delays to approximately 9,500 flights, and led to the cancellation of about 1,300,” he said.
The 2023 outage had made it impossible to issue air traffic safety notices, resulting in flights being suspended until the system was restored.
Friday’s outage, however, lasted much longer, exceeding four hours.
Source: skai.gr/φωτογραφία via AP.
