U.S. Nationwide Flight Halt Lifted After Four Hours; "Disruptions Likely to Persist for Days" (Updated)

FAA Lifts Flight Suspension
Amid Cyberattack Concerns, "Mechanical Issue"
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Air traffic across airports throughout the United States was halted on the afternoon of Nov. 13 local time due to a communications system failure affecting air traffic control, and the suspension was lifted four hours later. The U.S. government said there had been no malicious attack and that the incident was caused by an aging system. As the effects of the incident continue, forecasts suggest that disruptions to local flights will be unavoidable for several days.

According to the Associated Press (AP), CNN and other outlets, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted its suspension of domestic flights across the United States that afternoon. CNN reported that the decision came after more than four hours of disruption caused by the communications failure, resulting in thousands of delayed and canceled flights.

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The FAA had earlier announced that it was suspending flights departing from airports across the United States, citing an emergency and safety concerns caused by a communications failure in air traffic control. AP reported that this was the first nationwide halt to U.S. air traffic since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the malfunction of a major FAA computer system in January 2023.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who announced the lifting of the suspension after about four hours, said at a White House briefing, "The public was never in danger during the suspension. There were no casualties, and flight operations were not disrupted. The FAA was fully capable of handling the situation. We took this measure to prepare for any eventuality."

Mullin's remarks appeared to come in response to widespread questions about whether the suspension had been caused by an external attack.

The U.S. government cited an aging system as the cause of the incident. Officials said it was unrelated to an external cyberattack or the recent Microsoft (MS) service outage. Mullin said, "We believe it was caused by a mechanical problem." Before the suspension was lifted, he had also said, "This is completely different from the Sept. 11 attacks."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the system had become overloaded as new technology was introduced to the outdated air traffic control system. "The router was overloaded with data, causing problems with the data not being transmitted properly," he said, emphasizing that this had made it necessary to shut down the system. Calling this "an emergency," he urged Congress to approve $50 billion (about 67 trillion won) to overhaul the air traffic control system.

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Duffy said the suspension had been lifted, but it would take several days for flight operations to return to normal.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the incident disrupted more than 14,500 flights and forecast that travel problems would continue through the weekend. About 6,000 flights were canceled that day alone, and nearly 1,000 more had been canceled for the following day, Nov. 14, the WSJ reported.

CNN also reported that after flights were suspended, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) all launched in-depth investigations into the situation. The U.S. government had initially said it was difficult to say when the situation would be resolved.

When it initially announced the suspension of domestic flights, the FAA said that arrivals of international flights bound for the United States would be managed on a case-by-case basis. Later, European aviation authorities, which manage air traffic across 42 member countries in Europe, said they would suspend flights to the United States for about seven hours that night at the FAA's request. Mexico's Federal Civil Aviation Agency also said scheduled flights to the United States would be suspended for the time being.

Air cargo and parcel deliveries were also suspended as a result of the FAA's flight restrictions. FedEx, a parcel delivery company that relies on air transport, said it was "prepared to activate contingency plans to minimize service disruptions and will resume normal flight operations as soon as it receives FAA approval."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.