NEW YORK: US air authorities said on Wednesday that normal flight operations "are resuming gradually" across the country following an overnight systems outage that grounded departures.
"Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the US," the Federal Aviation Administration said on Twitter. "The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem."
A computer outage early on Wednesday resulted in thousands of delays at airports nationwide.
Earlier in the morning the FAA ordered all US flights to delay departures until at least 9 am Eastern. Due to heavy congestion, the FAA cleared flights to depart at Newark Liberty and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports.
While the White House initially said that there is no evidence of a cyberattack, President Joe Biden said "we don't know" and told reporters he's directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the disruption.
President Joe Biden addressed the FAA issue Wednesday before leaving the White House to accompany his wife to a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside of Washington. He said he had just been briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told him they still had not identified what went wrong.
"I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don't know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him for about 10 minutes," Biden said. "I told him to report directly to me when they find out. Air traffic can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don't know what the cause of it is."