US to resume flights after air traffic network failure sparks chaos

The US Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday, bringing an end to a communications failure that caused widespread chaos at airports across the country. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that US airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time (0115 GMT), but cautioned that departures would resume gradually, with the process expected to be slow. It is anticipated that airlines will need time to restore normal operations.

The incident resulted in significant disruptions, with over 6,600 flights canceled and 8,600 delayed. FlightRadar24 reported that another 1,500 flights were canceled for Sunday alone. Aviation analysts have warned that the four-hour nationwide grounding could disrupt airline schedules for several days. As a result, tens of thousands of passengers found themselves stranded at airports throughout the nation.

Duffy revealed that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the outage. The failure highlights the ongoing strain on the US air traffic control system, making it the latest and most dramatic example of this issue.