“A thunderstorm that lasts 15 minutes can cancel flights for 12 hours,” McGee said. “I hope things get cleared up quickly, but I would warn travelers that they should expect residual effects from this, assuming things go well and that we don’t have a second episode, the effects from this could easily run through Sunday.” 

For travelers whose plans are affected, many airlines issued waivers to allow them to rebook flights for later travel dates. The Department of Transportation also classified the impacts of Friday’s outage as “controllable” by airlines, which means that the carriers are on the hook for honoring their customer service commitments. 

Pilot concerns

The Air Line Pilots Association has long maintained that technology is no replacement for human experience in aviation. The association said Friday’s meltdown shows that aviation isn’t ready to reduce the number of pilots required on commercial flights or move to fully autonomous operations, as some advocates have suggested.

“Today’s global outage is a reminder that despite advances in technology, operational systems – especially in aviation – must have redundancy. That’s why the most important safety feature on every airline flight will always be two well-trained and rested pilots on the flightdeck,” ALPA President Capt. Jason Ambrosi said in a statement. “Relying exclusively on technology and automation and removing pilots from the flightdeck, as some are suggesting, is a step too far. Technological advancements can help improve aviation safety but can never be a substitute for the pilots on an aircraft.”