US to resume flights after air traffic network failure sparks chaos

The United States Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday, following a communications failure at air traffic control centers that caused significant disruption at airports and marked the longest national shutdown since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that US airspace had reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time (0115 GMT), but cautioned that departures would resume gradually, with airlines working to restore normal operations. He emphasized that the process would be slow, stating, "It's going to be slow."

The shutdown resulted in over 6,600 flights being canceled, while another 8,600 were delayed. An additional 1,500 flights were canceled specifically for Sunday, according to FlightRadar24. Aviation experts suggest that the four-hour nationwide grounding could potentially disrupt airline schedules for days.

Duffy explained that tens of thousands of passengers found themselves stranded at airports across the nation. He disclosed that he and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had convened with President Donald Trump at the White House to address the outage. This incident further highlights the vulnerabilities within the US air traffic control system, making it prone to such significant disruptions.