SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio International Airport experienced delays and cancelations as a result of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety computer system outage that prompted grounded flights nationwide.
The FAA ordered all domestic departures to suspend operations at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday following disruptions to the agency’s Notice to Air Missions system, which informs pilots and airports about hazards.
As of 5 p.m., there were more than 9,500 delays and just over 1,300 cancelations throughout the U.S., according to Flight Aware.
San Antonio International Airport experienced 10 cancelations, five of which originated in the Alamo City and five that were en-route to the airport.
The ground stop lasted nearly an hour and a half in San Antonio.
The FAA lifted the ground stop at 7:50 a.m. and is investigating the cause of the outage.
The White House noted there is no evidence at this time of a cyber- attack.
Sen. Ted Cruz criticized the FAA and advocated for accountability in a statement:
“The flying public deserves safety in the sky. The FAA’s inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable and just the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation. The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year’s FAA reauthorization legislation. This incident also highlights why the public needs a competent, proven leader with substantive aviation experience leading the FAA.”
Nash Hardeman and his wife will be spending the night in Dallas instead of Ecuador after the outage disrupted one of their connecting flights.
“Fortunately, I’m a man of faith so I’m really trying to turn it over to God, but there’s a part of me that’s just boiling inside with frustration. This should not have happened,” Hardeman said. “We had a full day planned tomorrow that we’re going to have to cancel because we’re flying out early Friday morning for the Galapagos Islands.”
As for Texas A&M student Willis Froetschal, he’ll make his final destination in Scotland despite a delay to one of the connecting flights due an extended layover.
“I saw that it affected one of my flights, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to affect the other two. It’s been a flight that I’ve had for a while so looking forward to it,” Froetschal said.
Travelers are urged to routinely monitor their flight status before heading to the airport.