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FAA lifts ground stop after computer system outage left thousands of flights delayed nationwide

ATLANTA — The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a temporary ground stop following a computer system outage Wednesday morning.

The issue impacted the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions System, which provides safety information to the airlines and flight crews.

The FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until at least 9 a.m. eastern time, which has now been lifted. The administration says the ground stop did not affect flights already in the air.

“Pilots check the NOTAM system before they fly. A Notice to Air Missions alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.”

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Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach is at Hartsfield Jackson-International Airport, where hundreds of flights have been delayed.

According to the FlightAware tracking service, there have been 438 delays and 34 cancellations at the Atlanta airport so far today.

Southwest Airlines says it is monitoring the data issue and urges customers to check their flight status online. United Airlines says it has temporarily grounded all domestic flights. Channel 2 has reached out to Delta for a statement and received the following.

“Delta is safely focused on managing our operation during this morning’s FAA ground stop for all carriers. We will provide more updates about our operation today as soon as we can. In the meantime, we encourage customers to use the Fly Delta app and delta.com to get their flight status before arriving at the airport.”

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