Air travel schedule should recover by Sunday, FAA says

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) anticipates that U.S. air travel schedules will resume normal operations by Sunday following the longest flight stoppage in 25 years. The ground stop, which began on Friday night, affected approximately 41,000 flights across the country. Many passengers, including Fernandes and Griffiths, faced uncertainty as they arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, only to find their flights canceled despite departing simultaneously with other flights.

Air Canada, which canceled around 250 flights on Friday, cited "significant disruption" that has carried over into the present. The airline stated that the issue stems from "routine maintenance" aimed at shifting the network from copper wires to fibre, as part of a broader infrastructure overhaul initiated last year. The FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, projected that between 4,000 and 5,000 of the 41,000 scheduled flights for Saturday would be canceled, with a full recovery expected by Sunday.

The disruption, according to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, was not caused by a cyber attack or AI systems, but rather routine maintenance at the FAA air traffic control communications system operated by L3Harris.