Several flights departing out of Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas are delayed or canceled after the Federal Aviation Administration experienced a glitch within one of its critical air operations systems early Wednesday morning.
The FAA tweeted that its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system suffered an outage just after 3 a.m. The system alerts air personnel, such as pilots and air traffic controllers of any abnormal statuses, dangers, or changes within the National Airspace System, which is the network providing air traffic service to more than 45,000 flights in the United States every day.
Several major airlines began delaying flights after the FAA's decision to ground all domestic flights until the problem was fixed. After three hours, the FAA announced the system had been restored and it would resume normal air traffic operations. However, airlines and their passengers are now dealing with thousands of flight delays and cancellations nationwide.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is following FAA operations. He tweeted that he is directing an after-action process to determine the causes and recommended next steps. Buttigieg also briefed the White House. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that while there is no evidence of a cyber attack taking place, the Department of Transportation is launching a full investigation.
Travelers are encouraged to continuously check flight statuses throughout the day, and to arrive at the airport ahead of schedule.
