Bengaluru: Air travelers in the United States are facing major disruptions. A communication failure within the air traffic control system led to a temporary halt in flight operations across the country.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded flights departing from airports nationwide. This caused widespread disruption to thousands of flights, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.
Although the restrictions on flight operations have now been lifted, officials have warned that it may take some time for airline services to return to normal.
According to US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, switches and routers in the legacy air traffic control system became overloaded due to excessive data pressure. This resulted in the transmission of incorrect and inconsistent information, causing disruptions to communication and radar systems. The issue affected 22 regional air traffic control centers across the country.
If effective communication between pilots and air traffic controllers cannot be maintained, it poses a risk to the safety of the aircraft. Consequently, as a precautionary measure, the FAA halted aircraft takeoffs. However, planes already in the air were permitted to land safely.
Speculation arose regarding whether a cyberattack or the involvement of artificial intelligence might be behind this technical issue. However, U.S. officials have stated that preliminary investigations have yielded no evidence of a cyberattack. Authorities have also clarified that this incident is unrelated to the disruptions experienced with Microsoft services.
As a result of this incident, more than 4,000 flights in the United States were cancelled, and over 10,000 flights faced delays. It is reported that approximately 1.5 million passengers were left stranded.
Air India also alerted passengers to the possibility of disruptions to flights operating to and from the United States. The Secretary of Transportation has emphasized the need for $50 billion in funding to modernize the aging air traffic control system.