3:37 p.m. ET, January 11, 2023
More than 8,600 flights have been delayed today. Here's what you need to know now.
A passengers checks a flight board at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday, January 11.
(John Moore/Getty Images)
The Federal Aviation Administration's Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, system experienced an outage Wednesday, contributing to widespread flight cancellations and delays.
Here are the latest developments:
Flight impacts. As of Wednesday afternoon, 8,609 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed and 1,251 were canceled, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. Travelers have reported waiting in airports for hours as airports urge passengers to check with their airlines about flight interruptions.
Ground stop lifted. The FAA lifted its ground stop Wednesday morning and said "normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S." Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the dramatic nationwide ground stop of departing flights was out of an "abundance of caution."
Calls for reform. Buttigieg told CNN Wednesday a key question officials need to look into is whether or not the system outage is an indication that the FAA's system is outdated. He said he welcomed the attention from Congress, especially because the US is nearing the time period when it needs to renew funding for the FAA.
And following the system outage, Sen. Ted Cruz called for congressional reforms to the FAA, which has been operating without a permanent leader since March. Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the panel will look into the causes behind the outage.
Cancellation comparison. Southwest, which canceled tens of thousands of flights
after Christmas following a systemwide meltdown, was hit hard on Wednesday by the system outage with 377 canceled flights. But American Airlines was hit even harder by one measure: Including feeder airlines that use regional jets, American said it has canceled nearly 400 flights as of midday Wednesday.
Here's a look at how today's flight cancellations across all airlines compared to the mass cancellations earlier this month: