Des Moines airport back up and running after FAA grounded all domestic flights

Passengers traveling during peak hours at the Des Moines International Airport this morning faced delays and cancellations after the FAA grounded all domestic flights due to a computer outage.

"Like airports across the country, all of our flights were grounded for a few hours, definitely during our peak time," said Kayla Kovarna, a spokesperson for the Des Moines International Airport.

Kovarna said crews at the airport worked quickly to get flights up in the air once the FAA gave the greenlight to resume flights on Wednesday. Only a few flights out of Des Moines were canceled as a result of the outage, she said.

As of Wednesday evening, the majority of flights leaving Des Moines took off within an hour of their scheduled departure time.

Across the country, more than 7,300 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service.

The FAA ordered a ground stop – a nationwide pause on domestic departures – after its NOTAM, or Notice to Air Mission, system failed early Wednesday. The FAA uses the system to alert pilots to potential flight hazards.

The disruption was considered a "major safety issue," CBS reported.

The system failed to process new information early Wednesday and crashed, requiring a hard restart at 2 a.m., officials said. The department is investigating the failure; officials said there is no evidence of a cyberattack.

Information from USA Today was used in this article.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at @francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Flights grounded at Des Moines airport Wednesday after system failure