WASHINGTON: Air travel across the United States remained disrupted on Saturday after a telecommunications failure at regional air traffic control centres forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to impose a nationwide ground stop, affecting thousands of flights.
The FAA lifted the restriction on Friday evening, allowing departures to resume after more than four hours. However, airlines warned that operations would take time to return to normal as aircraft and crew members remained out of position.
At least 600 flights were diverted during the disruption, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Thousands of other flights were delayed or cancelled, leaving passengers stranded at airports across the country.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the outage was caused by an overloaded, ageing air traffic control system that relied on outdated switches, routers and copper communication lines.
The FAA had ordered the ground stop on Friday afternoon, citing safety concerns following communication failures at multiple regional air traffic control centres. The disruption affected the movement of aircraft and forced airlines to suspend departures nationwide.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication that the incident was caused by a cyberattack. Officials also said the failure did not appear to be connected to the FAA's new artificial intelligence-powered system.
The FAA said it had thoroughly tested its systems to ensure they were stable and reliable before allowing flights to resume.
Airlines warn of continuing disruption
Several airlines reported cancellations and delays following the ground stop. JetBlue said disruptions could continue into Saturday, including further cancellations, while Air Canada suspended flights to and from the US for the remainder of Friday.
International flights were also affected, with some departures handled on a case-by-case basis. Cargo operations faced disruptions as the ground stop applied to departing flights across US airports.
The incident also affected sports teams travelling for weekend fixtures, with some forced to reschedule flights or travel by road.
Duffy warned that restoring normal operations would take time and called for additional funding to modernise the country's ageing air traffic control infrastructure. He said the government needed further investment to replace outdated equipment and improve the reliability of the system.
The nationwide ground stop was the first such restriction since January 2023, when a technical failure in the FAA's NOTAM system halted domestic departures for nearly two hours.
(With inputs from media reports)