U.S. air travel should return to normal by the end of Sunday, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford said Saturday, though airlines will still face delays and cancellations as they recover from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. The stoppage lasted more than four hours Friday after new technology being added to the air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment, causing intermittent communications and radar gaps.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a contractor replacing old copper wire with fiber caused the system overload. Officials are investigating whether contractor incompetence or a faulty router was to blame. The ground stop was the first since January 2023 and only the second since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Aviation consultant Andrew Charlton said the stoppage affected about a quarter of the 45,000 daily U.S. flights, creating a cascading disruption as aircraft and crews were displaced from their scheduled routes. Flight tracking sites reported between 3,200 and 4,100 cancellations Saturday.
Passengers scrambled for alternatives at airports nationwide. In Dallas, Emily Brown and her 14-year-old daughter waited more than four hours Friday before abandoning a surprise trip to Ohio. At Dallas Love Field on Saturday, a Southwest Airlines gate agent urged passengers to have boarding passes ready to keep full flights moving.
The disruption rippled into sports, forcing No. 19 Mississippi's game at Oklahoma to be delayed a full day to Sunday. Even Duffy's Saturday news conference began with audio troubles that required last-minute microphone swaps.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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