Digital Desk, Read: Due to a major technical glitch in the communication system of America's Air Traffic Control (ATC), flights across the country had to be stopped for more than four hours on Friday. Citing security reasons, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented ground stop (ban on flights) at all airports with immediate effect. Due to this unprecedented crisis, more than 8,000 flights had to be canceled and about 15 lakh passengers remained stranded at various airports in the country and abroad. Although the ban was lifted on Friday night, its widespread impact is expected to last till Saturday and weekend.
The problem started from Chicago, centers across the country were affected.
According to reports, this crisis did not suddenly start simultaneously in the entire country. It started at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, where flights were halted after a communication system problem. Within no time, this technical flaw spread to other air route traffic control centers in the country, after which takeoff of flights was banned across America. During this time, the planes which were already in the air were allowed to land safely, but the planes standing on the runway were stopped from taking off.
Shortly after the order to stop flights, the official website of FAA also came to a standstill, from where important notices related to air traffic are issued. A flight from New York's Kennedy Airport to Paris was delayed only because the pilot's flight from Boston was canceled and he had to reach the airport by car by road.
No signs of cyber attack, new AI system is also being investigated
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin clarified during a press briefing at the White House that initial investigation did not indicate any cyber attack behind the outage. This appears to be a technical glitch in the telecommunication system. On the other hand, FAA officials are also closely investigating whether the malfunction is related to the recently installed new Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, which suggests rerouting of planes and identifies possible problems.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that about $50 billion is needed to replace old air traffic control technology and wires with fiber optic cables and modern radio systems. President Trump has also demanded 30 billion dollars from Congress for this.
Nationwide break imposed for the third time after 9/11 and 2023
This is the third time in America's modern aviation history that flights have had to be banned simultaneously across the country. Earlier, after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (9/11), all the planes were grounded. After this, on January 11, 2023, due to a glitch in the FAA's computer system, flights were affected across the country for about 90 minutes. Earlier in the month of September also, hundreds of flights were affected due to communication system failure in the Northeast region of America.
Effect will be visible till weekend, passengers will get full refund
After the ban on flights was lifted, Delta Airlines has reinstated all its scheduled services, while United Airlines and Frontier Airlines have also given passengers the freedom to change their travel dates, anticipating delays on Saturday. JetBlue Airways canceled all remaining flights for Friday. The disruption, which occurred just two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday, has added to the problems for travelers. However, under US rules, all passengers who do not travel due to flight cancellation or excessive delay will be given a full refund by the airlines.