Computer glitch impacts thousands of flights nationwide, including Pensacola International Airport

PENSACOLA, FL. (WALA) - Chaos across the country Wednesday morning, still impacting air travel late into the evening.

It was a mess at airports all day after a Federal Aviation Administration system outage.

Computer breakdown sows chaos across US air travel system

FlightAware shows more than 10,000 flight delays and more than 1,300 flights canceled.

A number of flights on the Gulf Coast were affected.

It was a long day for flyers in Pensacola, as air travelers were forced to find another way home.

A message was sent out from the FAA that a vital computer system pilots use, called NOTAM, failed late Tuesday night.

Before a flight takes off the system notifies pilots and airline dispatchers of any weather delays or runway closures.

Erica Grancagnolo, the Assistant Airport Director at Pensacola International Airport, says this affected a number of flights from taking off.

“We became aware early this morning that there was a ground stop issued by the FAA so it did delay about 10 flights this morning,” Grancagnolo said. “All of those flights were able to get out once the ground stop was lifted.”

The system was up and running by 9 a.m Wednesday, but many travelers were left scrambling to rearrange their plans.

Including one traveler Nikki Young...

“I was scheduled on a 12:30 flight from here to Dallas Fort-Worth and i was canceled on a couple hours before hand,” Young said. “But it could’ve been worse. I rebooked on this 5:30 one that’s a little delayed but at least it’s here.”

Another traveler Sandra Jenum says for people who aren’t as familiar with an airport, issues like this can be very stressful.

“Well I just got a notice on my phone that my first flight out was canceled, just boom cancelled, and I’m not much of a traveler,” Jenum said. “So I was like uhh what do i do? I saw the FAA thing so it was like all these things going on.”

Grancagnolo says one flight took off Wednesday morning shortly before the ground stop was ordered but there were no issues.

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