US to resume flights after air traffic problem sparks chaos

Resumen detallado

The US will look at whether there is any link between the disruption on Saturday and its nationwide rollout of a new artificial intelligence system to help identify problems and reroute planes.

The United States has lifted its order to ground all flights across the country after earlier communications problems at regional air traffic control centres.

The earlier notice from the Federal Aviation Administration said the ground stop was being imposed "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety".

Planes already in the air were allowed to land, but those on the ground could not take off.

The FAA made clear there was no connection between the problem and the Microsoft outage that disrupted millions of users on Friday. While many are now able to access their Outlook and Teams, the issue is still being fixed.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA was investigating a communications issue affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centres that direct planes en route between airports nationwide.

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This was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that the last time had been after the September 11 attacks.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication yet that "this was a nefarious attack against us. It's just a telecommunications outage."

"Everybody's safe. There's no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they're flying," Mullin said.

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