Washington: US air travel is expected to return to normal by the end of Sunday after a nationwide ground stop triggered thousands of flight cancellations and left airlines working to restore schedules.
Airlines cancelled thousands of flights on Saturday as they worked to recover from the disruption, which left passengers scrambling to find alternative routes and accommodation. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford said the worst of the disruption was over and expected flight schedules to return to normal by the end of Sunday.
The ground stop, which lasted more than four hours on Friday, followed problems during work to upgrade the air traffic control system. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said contractor L3Harris Technologies was replacing a section of the system's old copper wiring with fibre-optic cable when the system became overloaded.
The work caused intermittent communication problems and gaps in radar coverage, prompting authorities to halt air traffic. Officials were investigating whether contractor incompetence or a faulty router had caused the problem.
"Our contractor didn't meet the moment or the equipment didn't meet the moment," Duffy said.
L3Harris said it was supporting the FAA's investigation to determine what led to the ground stop. The company said it took seriously the impact on travellers, airlines and air traffic operations.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, which represents FAA technicians, said the agency normally consults its technicians in advance and asks them to assess the risks of upgrades or repairs. However, that process was not followed in this case, the union said in a statement on Saturday.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system that sends notices to pilots malfunctioned. It was also the second nationwide stoppage since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Aviation consultant Andrew Charlton said Friday's disruption affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights operating in the US each day.
"The knock-on effect of that is incredible," said Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy. He explained that aircraft operate across multiple destinations, meaning a disruption at one point can affect several subsequent flights, particularly long-haul and international services.
Thousands of flights delayed and cancelled
Passengers at airports across the US spent Saturday trying to reach their destinations. Some waited in hotels, while others looked for rental cars, buses and trains. Many remained at airports as they attempted to rearrange their journeys.
The disruption also produced unusual scenes at airports. A video from Seattle's airport showed a passenger playing classical music to travellers. Stranded passengers in Lexington, Kentucky, took part in a cornhole tournament, while singer T-Pain and the band Hoobastank were filmed entertaining passengers waiting on commercial aircraft.
Dan Russell, 66, learnt that his connecting flight from Hawaii to California had been cancelled half an hour before its scheduled boarding time in San Diego on Friday night. With hotels full, he and his wife waited at the airport.
"There's nothing you can do," Russell said.
At Newark airport in New Jersey, Umi Egchi was trying to find out when he could return home to Japan.
"I'm not sure exactly what happened. I just want to go home," he said.
Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported that more than 6,000 flights within, into or out of the US had been cancelled on Saturday.
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Officials say passengers were not in danger
Duffy reiterated on Saturday that no one had been in danger during the ground stop. More than 3,000 aircraft that were in the air when the grounding order was issued landed safely, he said.
Trump administration officials blamed Congress for failing to approve additional funding to replace ageing technology used to manage air traffic. Duffy said 70 per cent of the system had been replaced but that the agency still needed new air traffic control towers and runways.
The FAA began its overhaul last year with $12.5 billion in funding. The work has included replacing thousands of old copper wires with fibre-optic lines and upgrading hundreds of radio systems. Duffy and the White House are seeking an additional $30 billion to complete the upgrades.
"We have aging infrastructure throughout the airspace," Duffy said, while stressing that flying remained safe.
Charlton said upgrading an air traffic control system that cannot be shut down presents significant challenges.
"What you're watching here is trying to change the tires of your car when the car's going at 80 miles an hour down the expressway, because nothing stops in aviation," he said.
Duffy said he had spoken repeatedly with US President Donald Trump since the ground stop began. Trump had not publicly commented on the disruption or issued statements on social media. He spoke by phone with a Fox News reporter, but the conversation was not recorded on camera.
Earlier outages raised concerns over ageing equipment
The latest disruption appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communications outage in September that affected hundreds of flights across the northeastern US. That incident was linked to a construction crew cutting a fibre-optic cable.
Ageing equipment was also blamed for brief radar outages last year that disrupted operations at Newark airport.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said Friday's incident was different because of the scale of the disruption, which left controllers unable to communicate reliably with pilots.
"If you don't have that ability, whether it's because the old wires that they have are just run down or for whatever reason, you've got to stop airplanes on the ground and not put them in the air," said Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot.
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Sports teams also face travel disruption
The flight stoppage affected professional and college sports teams travelling for matches across the US. Several college football games were delayed to give visiting teams more time to arrive, while others arranged alternative transport.
The game between No. 2 Utah and No. 22 Arizona was delayed by three hours, as was Arizona State's match against Central Florida. The No. 19 Mississippi team's game against Oklahoma was postponed to Sunday, with kick-off scheduled for 1 pm Eastern time.
Teams in basketball and soccer also adjusted their travel plans. The University of Southern California women's basketball team had to postpone its departure after being deplaned in Los Angeles, while the Cleveland Cavaliers travelled to Cleveland on Saturday morning after being unable to leave Miami the previous night.
The disruption also affected match officials. The NBA changed officiating assignments for several games after referees were unable to reach their scheduled venues. NFL referee Don Willard was set to officiate two games on Sunday, travelling between the venues for the Miami Dolphins-Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals matches.
