US flights face delays as recovery continues

WASHINGTON: Air travel across the United States is expected to take until late Sunday to return to normal schedules following a nationwide flight shutdown that disrupted thousands of journeys, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said airline operations were gradually recovering and expressed confidence that schedules would largely return to normal by late Sunday. He also apologised for the widespread disruption, assuring travellers that the aviation system remained stable.

According to FlightAware, airlines cancelled more than 6,400 flights and delayed over 8,000. The disruption followed an even more difficult Friday, when approximately 9,200 flights were cancelled and 7,500 delayed.

Nationwide ground stop

The FAA had ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, halting nearly all departing flights for almost five hours because of disruptions to air traffic communications. The shutdown marked the longest nationwide halt to US air travel since the September 11, 2001 attacks and became one of the country’s worst travel days.

The incident prompted an emergency meeting at the White House Situation Room, while federal agencies initially investigated whether a cyberattack was responsible.

However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the problem was traced to the installation of at least one new router by FAA contractor L3Harris at a remote facility. Officials described the disruption as a technical issue linked to routine maintenance.

The impact continued into Sunday, with FlightAware reporting that 875 flights scheduled for the day had already been cancelled. The aviation sector now faces the challenge of restoring normal operations and clearing the accumulated passenger backlog.