The key facts
- The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop imposed on November 13 due to a telecommunications outage
- FlightAware counted more than 8,860 canceled flights on Friday and about 2,650 on Saturday
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy cited an extremely outdated air traffic control system as the cause
The ban has been lifted, but the consequences persist
Air passengers in the US and on flights to and from the country continued to face delays and cancellations on Saturday morning, even though the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a rare nationwide ground stop. It had been imposed on Friday after a telecommunications outage halted all flights across the country. Euronews reports.
Scale of the disruption
According to the FlightAware service, more than 8,860 flights to or from the US were canceled on Friday, and by Saturday morning another 2,650 or so. Flightradar24's airport disruption map showed serious problems across the country. The FAA said that before flights resumed it had thoroughly tested its systems to make sure they were stable, and advised passengers to check their flight status with the airlines. United Airlines, Delta and American reported resuming operations; American said it was focused on operating as many of the remaining flights as possible and preparing for the strongest possible recovery in the coming days.
The cause — an outdated system
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the shutdown on what he called an extremely outdated air traffic control system. On Friday evening he announced that the airspace had reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time, but warned that restoring the normal schedule would take time: It will be slow. It depends on whether we have crews, pilots and flight attendants for your flight. We will try to move as many of them as possible tonight. But it will take us time to untangle what happened.
