US flights to return to normal by Sunday after nationwide ground stop, FAA says

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Air travel is expected to return to normal by the end of Sunday after a nationwide FAA ground stop led to thousands of flight cancellations and delays. | World News

Airlines canceled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Saturday as they worked to recover from a nationwide ground stop a day earlier that left passengers scrambling for seats and disrupted travel around the world.

The U.S. air travel schedule should be back to normal by the end of Sunday, two days after what was the nation's longest ground stop in 25 years, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters in Washington on Saturday. He said airlines “will still have delays and cancellations” Saturday but promised that the “worst is behind us.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the problem began when contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. was replacing a section of the air traffic control system’s old copper wire with new fiber wire, somehow causing the system to overload. The work led to “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, prompting the government to shut down air traffic for more than four hours.

Duffy said officials were investigating whether contractor “incompetence” or a faulty router was the cause. “Our contractor didn't meet the moment or the equipment didn’t meet the moment,” he added.

Also read: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explains what caused FAA nationwide ground stop: ‘Contractor error or faulty equipment’

L3Harris said it was supporting the FAA in its investigation to “understand the conditions” that led to the ground stop.

“L3Harris takes the nationwide ground stop and its impact on travelers, airlines and air traffic operations seriously,” it said in a statement.

The nationwide stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system that sends notices to pilots malfunctioned, and the second since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant, said Friday's stoppage affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights in the U.S. each day.

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