US air travel disruptions to persist until late on Sunday, FAA head says

Air travel in the United States is expected to remain disrupted until the end of the weekend, according to the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The aviation system is slowly recovering from a nationwide flight shutdown caused by a routine maintenance issue that went awry. On Saturday, airlines canceled over 6,400 US flights and delayed more than 8,000, as reported by FlightAware, an aviation website.

Since Friday, when the FAA implemented a nationwide ground stop, there have been about 9,200 flights canceled and 7,500 delayed. FlightAware noted that 875 flights scheduled for Sunday were already canceled.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated on Saturday that he anticipates airline operations to largely return to normal by the end of Sunday. He also apologized for the disruption, emphasizing that the system remains stable. The nationwide ground stop, the longest air travel halt since the September 11, 2001 attacks, lasted nearly five hours.

It prompted the White House to hold an emergency meeting in the Situation Room and federal agencies to investigate if the issue was a cyberattack. However, the problem was traced to L3Harris, an FAA contractor, which was installing at least one new router at a remote facility.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the agency is investigating whether the fault was due to incompetence, user error, installer error, or a faulty router. The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union representing FAA safety employees, confirmed the issue was isolated to two routers that were updated on Friday. An official believed the routers were located in Arkansas and Texas.

L3Harris expressed concern over the issue and is cooperating with the FAA's investigation. The company's shares dropped about four percent after hours on Friday.

The FAA had previously blamed the crisis on a botched replacement of old copper wire communication lines. However, the ground stop was lifted on Friday evening, but the passenger disruptions continued as tens of thousands of people were stranded in airports. Airlines were trying to position flight crews and personnel to resume flights.

The incident caused widespread chaos, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers in limbo, with some being removed from planes moments before they were scheduled to depart due to unclear circumstances.