KCI flights delayed multiple hours after nationwide FAA computer issue

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Flights at KCI are grounded through at least 8 a.m. Wednesday as the FAA deals with computer issues affecting airports across the country.

Shortly after 5 a.m. Central Time, the Federal Aviation Administration began investigating a computer issue causing numerous nationwide flight delays. The FAA then ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until at least 9 a.m. Eastern Time. The ground stop was lifted at 7:50 a.m., however, delays were likely to last several hours.

At 7:30 a.m. Eastern, there were more than 1,200 delayed flights delayed, into or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 100 had been canceled.

An announcement was made shortly after 6:30 a.m. CT at Southwest Airlines at Kansas City International Airport that passengers should expect at least another two hours of delays before flights can start departing.

Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast, but were beginning to spread west. Inbound international flights into Miami International Airport continued to land, but all departures have been delayed since 6:30 a.m., said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now,” the FAA said. “Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.”

The agency said that some functions are beginning to come back online, but that “National Airspace System operations remain limited.”

Before commencing a flight, pilots are required to consult NOTAMs, or Notices to Air Missions, which list potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the potential for icing. The system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for the information, but has now moved online.

There is a potential for widespread disruption because of the outage. All aircraft are required to route through the system, including commercial and military flights.

European flights into the U.S. appeared to be largely unaffected.

In addition to original reporting, information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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