US Aviation Ground Stop Cancels Thousands of Flights Nationwide
Flights restart after a major air traffic failure, but thousands of cancellations and delays continue across the country
US Aviation – (Special Correspondent/Web Desk) – US aviation faced one of its worst disruptions in decades on Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights across the country after communication problems hit regional air traffic control centers.
Late Friday night, the agency lifted the order and allowed planes to take off again. But normal service did not return right away. Many planes and crews ended up in the wrong cities, so airlines needed more time to recover.
More than 2,000 flights were canceled on Saturday. This was the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. At least 827 flights were diverted, and thousands more were delayed.
Officials said new technology was being added to very old equipment. That put too much load on the system and caused weak communication and radar gaps. Trump administration officials called the systems “overloaded” and “outdated.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said no one was in danger. More than 3,000 flights landed safely on Friday. Officials also said the FAA’s new AI-powered system was not connected to the failure.
Passengers felt the pain. Emily Brown and her daughter waited over four hours at Dallas airport. Many others were stuck in places like Chicago O’Hare.
Sports teams were hit too. Some professional and college teams took buses to avoid more delays. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked NCAA teams to contact the FAA so Saturday games could get flight priority.
International flights were handled case by case. Some left Friday evening.
Duffy blamed Congress for not approving more money for upgrades. He warned that similar problems could happen again. The FAA has replaced thousands of old copper wires with fiber optic lines, but much work remains. The aviation industry says billions of dollars are needed.
Officials expect the system to run normally before Thanksgiving travel begins. The last nationwide stop was in January 2023, after a computer system failure.
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