Airlines face fallout from four-hour national flight stop

Airlines across the United States worked Saturday to recover from a nationwide ground stop that lasted more than four hours. The shutdown, which began Friday, canceled more than 2,000 flights and stranded thousands of passengers. It marks the longest such interruption in 25 years.

Officials in the Trump administration stated that new technology added to the air traffic control system caused the disruption. The new systems overloaded antiquated equipment, creating intermittent gaps in communications and radar. A limited number of domestic flights began departing after the stop was lifted around 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told reporters that the failure was not linked to the FAA’s new AI-powered system. He said the issue stemmed from old legacy equipment. Duffy blamed Congress for failing to approve additional funding for the necessary upgrades. He suggested that more disruptions could occur in the future.

The stoppage forced sports teams to adjust their travel plans. Auburn University’s football team took a bus to Mississippi State, pushing their game start time from noon ET to 4:15 p.m. Other affected universities included Baylor, Washington, Kansas State, Minnesota, and No. 19 Ole Miss. Duffy encouraged NCAA teams to contact the FAA so the agency could prioritize flights for Saturday games.

Passengers experienced long delays at major hubs. Emily Brown and her 14-year-old daughter waited more than four hours at Dallas airport before canceling their trip to Columbus, Ohio. Ruth Coles sat on her plane at Los Angeles International Airport for more than five hours after landing from Newark, New Jersey. FlightAware reported that more than 2,500 flights were canceled in the U.S. on Saturday, with hundreds more delayed.

The disruption also affected international travel. At London’s Heathrow Airport, several flights to and from the U.S. were listed as delayed or canceled. Tim Johnson, consumer director at the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, said follow-on disruption was likely as airlines rebooked passengers. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin stated that no one was in danger during the event, as more than 3,000 flights landed safely on Friday.

The FAA began a system overhaul last year after Congress approved $12.5 billion in funding. The agency has replaced thousands of old copper wires with fiber optic lines and upgraded hundreds of radio systems. The White House is currently pushing for $30 billion in additional funding to complete the work. Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo noted that the nationwide scale of the disruption forced controllers to keep planes on the ground to ensure communication with pilots was reliable.