US flights have begun departing again after a nationwide ground stop caused by a communications failure at regional air traffic control centres. The Federal Aviation Administration lifted the halt after several hours, but warned that the return to normal operations would be slow.
More than 15,000 flights were delayed and a further 5,000 cancelled after the FAA ordered aircraft to remain on the ground on Friday afternoon. Hundreds of flights were diverted during the disruption.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed ageing equipment for the failure, telling a White House briefing: “It’s the old hardware that went down.”
He said the incident raised questions about whether Congress would provide the funding needed to replace the system. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said new technology had overwhelmed parts of the older air traffic control network and estimated that a complete overhaul could cost $50 billion.
The Air Traffic Control System Command Center initially cited “extraordinary circumstances for safety reasons” when it ordered the immediate suspension of flights. The FAA said every flight had been accounted for and that international departures would be considered individually.
Some international services were allowed to leave earlier because they were heading out of US airspace. San Francisco airport said flights bound for Hawaii and Asia could depart, while Chicago O’Hare saw a British Airways service to London take off after a four-hour wait.
Airports were left struggling to provide clear information, with some departure boards showing flights as operating even though passengers were unable to board. JetBlue also cancelled flights leaving New York’s John F Kennedy Airport, apart from services to Europe.
Duffy said about 3,500 aircraft had been in the air when the stoppage began, but fewer than 400 remained in the airspace when he spoke. He said flights would return gradually rather than all at once and encouraged college football teams delayed by the disruption to contact the FAA to arrange departure times ahead of their weekend matches.
President Donald Trump said the incident did not appear to have been caused by a cyber attack and that nobody had claimed responsibility. He suggested that “old broken stuff” in the system, which he had tried to upgrade, could be responsible.
Mullin said the public had never been in danger during the outage. Officials have not indicated that the disruption was part of an attack or linked to other incidents.
