US to resume flights after air traffic network failure sparks chaos
XLI•The FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop after a communications failure disrupted US air traffic, with more than 6,600 flights canceled and 8,600 delayed. Officials said flights would resume gradually and warned it could take days for airline schedules to return to normal.
1. Ground stop lifted
The FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop on Friday after instability in radar and communications systems disrupted air traffic. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said US airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time, but departures would resume gradually.
2. Disruption could last days
More than 6,600 flights were canceled and 8,600 delayed, with another 1,500 cancellations already recorded for Sunday. Duffy said tens of thousands of passengers were stranded, and aviation analysts said the four-hour grounding could disrupt airline schedules for days.
3. Cause under investigation
Duffy said overloaded switches and routers produced inconsistent data, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no evidence so far of a cyberattack or rogue AI system. The outage appeared to affect a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies, according to two airline officials. Duffy called for $50 billion to modernize the air traffic control system.
