FAA lifts nationwide ground stop after five-hour halt
The FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop late Friday after about 5 hours, but airlines warned that recovery could take days, with more than 9,000 flights delayed and planes and crews out of position.
Flights resume after 5 hours on the ground
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its nationwide ground stop late Friday, about 5 hours after ordering all departing flights to stay on the ground. The agency issued the order a little before 4 p.m. Eastern, citing a communication issue affecting air traffic control centers and extraordinary circumstances, and relief came about 4.5 hours later, MarketWatch reported.
It was the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years, the Associated Press reported, and the first since January 2023, when a pilot-alert system failed. It was also only the second such halt since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. A limited number of domestic flights began departing late Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, adding that his agency was trying to move as many flights as possible that night, with work continuing on Saturday.
What went wrong, and what officials ruled out
At a White House briefing, Duffy said that at 3:36 p.m. Eastern, radar and communications data became unstable at en route centers and terminal radar approach control facilities. Switches and routers got overloaded with data and began giving inconsistent information, he said, and the system was shut down because of it. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin offered a preliminary explanation: new equipment and new technology being added to the system was overwhelming the older system.
Officials said there was no evidence of a cyberattack. Mullin told reporters there was 'zero evidence' the issue was caused by a cyberattack, MarketWatch reported, and the Associated Press quoted him saying there were no footprints showing an attack and that the problem appears to be mechanically driven. The investigation continued, and officials did not rule one out. Duffy said the problems were not linked to the FAA's new AI-powered traffic-planning system, because that system is not connected to what failed. The Wall Street Journal, cited by MarketWatch, reported that the problems appeared to affect a telecommunications network used by air traffic controllers and overseen by L3Harris Technologies.
A slow recovery into the weekend
The disruption spread fast. More than 9,000 flights within, into and out of the United States were delayed on Friday, with cancellations climbing late in the evening, according to FlightAware data cited by MarketWatch. Cirium, an aviation analytics company, counted 26,284 flights scheduled to depart on Friday, including about 11,000 slated to take off after 4 p.m. Eastern, carrying more than 1.5 million passengers. Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and Dallas-Fort Worth were among the most affected airports.
More than 3,500 airplanes were in the sky when the ground stop took effect, Duffy said, and at least 827 flights were diverted, with 670 sent back to the airport they left from and 157 redirected elsewhere, according to Cirium figures cited by the Associated Press. Derek Cann, a flight expert at the travel site Going, told MarketWatch he expects knock-on delays to extend into Saturday and possibly Sunday as airlines work to realign planes and crews. Airlines have also cut flights in recent months in response to rising jet-fuel costs, MarketWatch noted, leaving fewer options for rebooking. Duffy said he expected flights to be back up and operational ahead of the Thanksgiving travel rush, but he also said he could not promise it would not happen again, adding, 'But, you will have more of these.'
- About 5 hoursHow long the nationwide ground stop lasted
- More than 9,000Flights delayed on Friday, according to FlightAware
- 26,284Flights scheduled to depart on Friday, according to Cirium
- 11,000Flights scheduled to take off after 4 p.m. Eastern
- 1.5 millionPassengers scheduled to fly from 4 p.m. Eastern onward
