On US System Outage, Aviation Body DGCA Says Operations Normal In India

Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday said operations are normal at all airports in the country, and as of now, "there does not seem to be a cause for concern" amid air traffic in the United States getting affected due to a technical failure in the system.

An official at Air India, which operates direct flights to five American cities, said there could be some delays for its flights from the US due to possible runway congestion.

Hundreds of flights across the US were grounded early morning on Wednesday following a technical failure in the system that provides safety info to flight crews.

Normal air traffic is resuming gradually in the US, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) saying it is continuing to look into the cause of the initial problem.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said operations are normal at all airports in India and "as of now, there does not seem to be a cause for concern".

The official also said that Air India flights to New York, Chicago and San Francisco landed safely.

Air India operates around 51 weekly flights to various cities in the US.

The airline, which is the only Indian carrier having direct services to the US, flies to New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.

It has flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 3,700 flights within, into or out of the US were delayed and more than 600 were cancelled.

US President Joe Biden was briefed by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on the FAA system outage.

"There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a tweet.

In a statement, United Airlines said the FAA has lifted the nationwide ground stop and the airline has resumed operations.

"Customers may continue to see some delays and cancellations as we work to restore our schedule...," it added.

British carrier Virgin Atlantic said some of its departures to the US may be affected by delays. "We're working closely with the relevant authorities and following careful assessment, continue to operate our schedule of US flights departing from the UK." 

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