US air travel disruptions to persist until late on Sunday
WASHINGTON: US air travel is not expected to return to normal schedules until late on Sunday, the head of the FAA said, as the aviation system gradually recovers from a nationwide flight shutdown that officials blamed on routine maintenance gone awry.
The US aviation system is expected to remain disrupted until late Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) head Bryan Bedford. Over 6,400 US flights were cancelled and more than 8,000 delayed on Saturday due to a nationwide ground stop ordered after a routine maintenance issue at an FAA contractor's remote facility.
The problem stemmed from the installation of at least one new router, causing data overloads in communications centres, disrupting radar and affecting flight operations at 17 of the 22 en route centres. Airlines, including Delta, United, and American, cancelled about 25% of their flights on Saturday, while JetBlue cancelled nearly 45%.
The FAA is investigating whether the fault was due to user error or installer error, and has called for US$50 billion in funding to upgrade air traffic control systems, up from its previous request of US$30 billion.
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