Thousands of US flights canceled, delayed as air travel system slowly recovers from shutdown
XLI•Airlines canceled 4,500 US flights and delayed 4,400 more on Saturday as the system recovered from Friday’s nationwide ground stop. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an L3Harris router installation triggered the disruption and sought $50 billion to upgrade air traffic control systems.
1. Flights resume gradually
Airlines canceled 4,500 US flights and delayed 4,400 more on Saturday after Friday’s nationwide ground stop halted nearly all departing flights for almost five hours. The FAA’s Bryan Bedford said the system was stable and he expected airline operations to largely return to normal by late Sunday.
2. Router installation cited
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an L3Harris installation of at least one new router at a remote facility triggered the disruption. He said officials had not determined whether the fault involved user or installer error or a faulty router. The disruption overloaded communications centers and affected communications at 17 of 22 en route centers.
3. Funding request raised
Duffy called for $50 billion to upgrade air traffic control systems, up from his earlier request of $30 billion. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines each canceled about 20% of their flights on Saturday, while JetBlue canceled 40%.
