Logan operations running ‘pretty smoothly’ Saturday morning after nationwide ground stop

Detailed summary

Logan International Airport was mostly back to normal Saturday after a nationwide ground stop a day earlier forced airlines to cancel nearly 200 flights locally, a Massport…

Logan International Airport was mostly back to normal Saturday after a nationwide ground stop a day earlier forced airlines to cancel nearly 200 flights locally, a Massport spokesperson said.

“From all accounts, everything is going pretty smoothly,” said Jennifer Mehigan, the spokesperson.

Airlines cancelled a majority of those 192 flights on Friday at Logan — and more than 2,000 flights nationally — and notified customers, she said. The airlines are busy rebooking flights, but because most of them were cancelled in advance, the crowds of stranded passengers that filled terminals on Friday have disbanded, according to Mehigan.

Massport expects the flight backlog to be cleared and normal operations fully restored by Sunday morning, Mehigan said.

The Trump administration said it ordered the shutdown after new technology in the US air traffic control system overloaded older equipment and caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps. The ground stop lasted a little more than four hours.

Mehigan likened the recovery to familiar scenes at Logan after major weather events, like a blizzard. The ground stop prevented airlines from getting crews and aircraft in place for many flights scheduled for Saturday and notified passengers of the cancellations on Friday, she said.

Logan’s flight schedule is the lightest on Saturdays, and that’s likely helping the airport get back on track.

She urged passengers to check their flight status with the airlines before coming to the airport.

“The airlines are very good about communicating with their passengers about the status of their flight,” Mehigan said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Boston Globe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.