Four flights have been canceled this Saturday morning at the airports of Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat due to the temporary suspension of takeoffs in the United States for about four hours, caused by a failure in the telecommunications systems of air traffic control.
The incident, already resolved after the reopening of US airspace, has affected operations of Delta, Iberia and United Airlines, according to what Aena has reported to Europa Press.
In the case of Madrid-Barajas, the airport operator has detailed the cancellation of a Delta departure to Atlanta, scheduled for 12:20 hours, as well as an Iberia arrival coming from Chicago, expected for 8:45 hours.
In Barcelona-El Prat, Aena has confirmed the cancellation of a United Airlines flight originating in Chicago, whose arrival was set for 12:15 hours, along with the cancellation of its return flight.
The airport operator has advised travelers with trips to or from the United States to verify the status of their flight directly with their airline before going to the airport.
For its part, Iberia has stated that it has been able to operate all the scheduled takeoffs and landings, with the exception of the flight from Chicago to Madrid, corresponding to IBE 0342, as Aena had also indicated, and whose operation it expects to recover throughout this Saturday.
The airline has emphasized that its connections were able to take off and land despite the breakdown recorded in the United States and that the main impact was concentrated on domestic operations within the north American country.
Air Europa, on the other hand, has reported that the incident had no impact on its routes and that it was not forced to cancel any of its flights.
The United States reopens its airspace after four hours of shutdown
Airlines have been regaining normality in their schedules after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily suspended takeoffs in the United States, a situation that led to cancellations in connections with Spain.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the suspension order this Saturday after four hours of paralysis, which caused thousands of delays and cancellations in the country. The authorities confirmed that the control centers and air traffic towers were again operational.
The origin of the problem lies in a data overload in the old telecommunications systems that employ air traffic control services, which forced takeoffs to be halted as a precautionary measure.
As the U.S. Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, explained, landings were not affected and the aircraft that were already in the air were able to land safely.
Washington dismisses signs of a cyberattack
The U.S. Transportation secretary has linked the failure to the obsolescence of the technological infrastructure and has called on Congress for $50 billion to complete its renewal. Duffy has explained that the older telecommunications routers suffered a data overload, which generated technical inconsistencies and forced the FAA to suspend takeoffs.
For his part, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has ruled out the existence of any signs of a possible cyberattack or suspicious activity, although he has clarified that the investigation remains open to clarify the causes of the incident.
U.S. authorities have assured that passenger safety was not compromised during the incident and have noted that more than 3,500 aircraft were in flight when the suspension order was issued.