FAA predicts US travel is not expected to return to normal schedules until late Sunday. Head of FAA said the system gradually recovers from a nationwide flight shutdown that officials blamed on routine maintenance gone awry. As of 9:35 p.m. ET, airlines on Saturday had canceled more than 6,400 U.S. flights and delayed more than 8,000 according to a flight tracking data website.
The humongous numbers stemmed from the previous cancellation and delay of 9,200 and 7,500 flights, respectively, on Friday after the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop attributed to disruptions in air traffic communication. Sources also reported that nearly 875 scheduled flights for Sunday were also already canceled.
Earlier on Saturday, Federal Aviation Administration head Brian Bedford said that he expected airline operations to return largely to normal by late Sunday and apologized for the disruption adding that the system remained stable.
The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday that halted nearly all departing flights for almost five hours at the United States airport. It was the longest nationwide halt since the September 11/2011!nd one of the single worst U.S. travel days ever.
The issue prompted the White House to convene an emergency meeting in the Situation Room on Friday and federal agencies scrambled to determine if it was a cyberattack. However, investigation revealed issues with the FAA contractor L3 Harris’
Installation of at least one new router at a remote facility was deemed transport Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists a union representing the FAA safety employees said that the issue was isolated to two routers that were updated on Friday. Officials added that the agency conducted a safety assessment before the work, and the union said the ASS represented technicians were not involved in the upgrade that led to the ground stop.