US flight operations will 'take time' to recover after hours-long grounding

NEW YORK – Flights across the United States were gradually resuming on Saturday after being grounded for several hours due to a major communications outage, although authorities said it would take time for operations to return to normal.

The nationwide ground stop on Friday sparked widespread disruption, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, with some ordered off planes moments before departure by airline staff who appeared unaware of the unfolding situation.

The incident marked only the second time such a nationwide alert had been issued in US airspace, one of the busiest in the world, since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

The ground stop lasted around four hours and was lifted at 8.15pm Eastern Time on Friday (0115 GMT Saturday).

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials reopened the airspace on Friday night "after restoring full functionality" at air traffic control facilities, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

"It will take us time (to) resume normal operations... Our top priority is the safety of you and your family when you fly," Duffy said.

Administration officials blamed the incident on telecommunications problems involving decades-old equipment, adding that there was no evidence of foul play.

"This is a legacy system problem," Duffy said. "We have old, old switches, old routers.

"We use 1980s little copper lines. It's an old system that went down, and went down everywhere. It got overloaded."

Duffy had formally asked Congress on Thursday for US$30.1 billion in funding to upgrade and modernise the air traffic control system.

After the ground stop was lifted, he renewed his call for the funding.

"I'm going to say it a million times: the Congress has to give the resources to the president so he can finish this bill," he said.

 6,000 flights cancelled

Almost 6,000 flights were cancelled, including some international routes, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware.

Footage from airports across the country showed crowded departure gates and planes waiting on taxiways.

Passengers filled airport concourses, seeking information about an outage that had thrown their travel plans into chaos.

"We're trying to debate whether or not we need to reschedule or drive or what, but if the whole country is stopped, that means the highways are going to be jammed too," said Joseph Anderson, 72, who was trying to fly from Las Vegas to Oakland, California.

A nationwide ground stop is highly unusual.

A similar nationwide stop was imposed in January 2023 after a pilot notification system failed, but the only other nationwide grounding occurred in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks in 2001, when no aircraft took to the skies for days.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stressed that there was no evidence of hostile action behind Friday's incident.

"We've seen zero evidence that this was a cyberattack or (AI) attack," he told a news conference.

He also ruled out any connection with an outage that affected Microsoft earlier this week, disrupting email systems used by millions of people, as well as public services and businesses worldwide.

 Confusion and delays

The ground stop caused widespread disruption at airports across the country.

At New York's LaGuardia Airport, Tiara Johnson said she had been trying to travel to Orlando for a concert with a friend.

"They just keep delaying it... So it started out at 7.55. Then it went to 8.30, 9.30. Now it's at 10.30. So we don't know when it's gonna leave," she told AFP.

"I feel very frustrated because you know, you come to the airport and then all of a sudden your whole plans have changed and you don't know when you're leaving. We're kind of stuck."

Some travellers said they had been told their flights were delayed due to wind, while others were left to gather whatever information they could.

Departure boards at the airport continued to show flights leaving as scheduled, while mobile boarding passes held by stranded passengers appeared to indicate that their flights were operating as planned.

Passengers were scrambling to find alternative transport, with long queues forming at car rental counters at Las Vegas airport.

Susan Sardina said she had already boarded her flight back to Orange County, California, when airline staff informed passengers that there was a problem.

"We were already on our flight to leave and we were told to get off," she told AFP as she stood in a lengthy queue for a rental car.

For some travellers, however, the delay offered an unexpected opportunity to extend their holiday.

Kathy Sommers was returning home after visiting friends in Las Vegas when her flight was cancelled.

"We're blessed that our friends are coming back to pick us up," she said. "So one more night to play cards." –AFP