Airlines hope for return to normal Thursday after FAA outage snarls U.S. travel

The U.S. aviation sector was struggling to return to normal on Wednesday after a nationwide ground stop imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over a computer issue that forced a 90-minute halt to all U.S. departing flights, Qazet.az reports.

More than 10,000 flights have been delayed so far and over 1,300 canceled, according to FlightAware, in the first national grounding of flights in about two decades. Many industry officials compared the grounding to what occurred after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Major carriers, such as Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N), United Airlines (AAL.O), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and American Airlines (AAL.O), all reported 40% or more of flights Wednesday delayed or canceled, though airline officials expressed confidence that normal operations could largely return by Thursday.

The FAA computer issue had prevented airports from filing updated safety noticesthat warn pilots of potential hazards such as runway closures, poor weather and construction, bringing flights to a temporary halt.