Flight delays and cancellations persist across US after nationwide ground stop is lifted

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency that oversees air traffic in the country, has lifted a nationwide ground stop issued on Friday, but passengers travelling to and from the United States were still facing delayed and cancelled flights on Saturday, 14 November. The rarely used order halted all flights across the country after a telecommunications outage. The disruption matters because it has affected thousands of travellers and airline operations nationwide.

Restrictions eased step by step

The FAA said some departures were resuming. It stated that systems were thoroughly tested before flights were cleared, to confirm they were stable and operations remained reliable. Travellers were advised to contact their airlines for updates on their flights.

Transport secretary's assessment

US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the stoppage on what he called an "incredibly old" air traffic control system and warned that a return to normal would take time. He told reporters the airspace was reopened at 8:15 pm Eastern time on Friday, but that this did not mean every flight would operate. According to him, much depends on whether crews, pilots and flight attendants are available. He added that it would take time to unwind what had happened.

Scale of the disruption

The airport disruption map of the flight-tracking site Flightradar24 showed major problems at airports across the US on Saturday morning. Tracking service FlightAware put the number of cancelled flights to or from the US on Friday at more than 8,860, with around 2,650 more cancelled so far on Saturday.

United Airlines, Delta and American Airlines have all said they are resuming operations. American said late on Friday that it was focused on operating as many remaining flights as possible that evening while preparing the airline for the strongest possible recovery in the coming days.