When the American sky breaks down...

Panic in American skies. On Tuesday night, the pilot information system ("Notice to Air Missions system, NOTAM) broke down. A major failure, which forced the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to cancel all take-offs from American airports for several hours. " The FAA has ordered airlines to suspend all domestic departures until 9 a.m., East Coast time, to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information. "said the agency.

Shortly before 3pm French time, activity gradually resumed, with the FAA announcing that the flight ban had been lifted: " Normal air traffic operations are gradually resuming across the United States following a failure of the flight mission notification system that provides safety information to flight crews. The ground blockage has been lifted. We are continuing to investigate the cause of the initial problem." . A search which, given the geopolitical context, could lead to the identification of a malicious act... Even if the White House spokeswoman does not mention any evidence of this for the time being. " The President was informed by the Secretary of Transportation this morning that the FAA system had broken down.says Karine Jean-Pierre. There is currently no evidence that this was a cyber attack, but the President has asked the Department of Transportation to conduct a thorough investigation into the causes of the failure. FAA to provide regular updates ".

In all, several thousand flights were affected. According to FlightAware, there were more than 5,400 delayed flights and 905 cancellations in the United States on Wednesday afternoon.