U.S. Airports Recover from Ground Stop Ahead of Thanksgiving
U.S. airports and federal officials worked to restore flights after a historic suspension of air traffic, impacting tens of thousands of travelers. The situation led to widespread cancellations and delays, with…
With the busiest travel days of the year just ahead, U.S. airports and federal officials scrambled on Saturday to restore flights for tens of thousands of travelers grounded by Friday’s historic suspension of air traffic. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated at a Washington news conference that airports were back at full operations, though he acknowledged that some events may not happen on time (1). [1]
At Los Angeles International Airport, FlightAware reported 85 canceled departures and 110 canceled arrivals, along with 189 delayed departures and 196 delayed arrivals. At Hollywood Burbank Airport, the figures were 12 canceled departures, 11 canceled arrivals, 22 delayed departures and 22 delayed arrivals. An LAX spokesperson said it would take time for things to return to normal and urged travelers to check with their airlines before traveling (1). [1]
Nationwide, as of Saturday afternoon, FlightAware reported 5,577 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S., along with 6,915 delayed flights. Airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, New York and San Francisco had cancellation rates of 17% or higher. This followed several hours of grounded flights on Friday, when federal officials said more than 9,000 commercial flights were canceled, forcing tens of thousands of travelers into long waits or overnight stays in major airports across the country (1). [1]
Federal officials said they did not believe cyber-crime or artificial intelligence played any role in Friday’s trouble. Instead, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed lagging federal air-traffic technology and pointed to government contractor L3Harris, which owns and operates a communications network crucial to air traffic control. After some communications and radar became unreliable on Friday afternoon, officials traced the trouble to a recently updated communications router (1). [1]
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With the busiest travel days of the year just ahead, U.S. airports and federal officials scrambled on Saturday to restore flights for tens of thousands of travelers grounded by Friday’s historic suspension of air traffic. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated at a Washington news conference that the airports were back at full operations, although he acknowledged that some events may not happen on time. FlightAware reported 85 canceled departures and 110 canceled arrivals at Los Angeles International Airport, along with 189 delayed departures and 196 delayed arrivals (1). [1]
Nationwide, as of Saturday afternoon, FlightAware reported 5,577 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S., along with 6,915 delayed flights. While about 10% of LAX’s departures were canceled Saturday, the airport appeared to be recovering faster than some others. Airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, New York, and San Francisco were among those with cancellation rates of 17% or higher (1). [1]
Federal officials said they did not believe cyber-crime or artificial intelligence played any role in Friday’s trouble. Instead, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed lagging federal air-traffic technology and pointed to government contractor L3Harris, which owns and operates a communications network crucial to air traffic control. After some communications and radar became unreliable on Friday afternoon, officials traced the trouble to a recently updated communications router (1). [1]
With the busiest travel days of the year just ahead, U.S. airports and federal officials scrambled on Saturday to restore flights for tens of thousands of travelers grounded by Friday’s historic suspension of air traffic. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated at a Washington news conference that, although operations were returning to normal, some events may not occur on time, such as weddings and birthday parties (source ID 1). [1]
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About 2:20 p.m., travel website FlightAware reported 85 canceled departures and 110 canceled arrivals at Los Angeles International Airport, along with 189 delayed departures and 196 delayed arrivals. At Hollywood Burbank Airport, the figures were 12 canceled departures, 11 canceled arrivals, 22 delayed departures and 22 delayed arrivals. An LAX spokesperson noted that it would take some time for things to return to normal, but recommended that travelers check with their airlines before making travel plans (source ID 1). [1]
Nationwide, as of Saturday afternoon, FlightAware reported 5,577 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S., along with 6,915 delayed flights. Airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, New York and San Francisco were among those with cancellation rates of 17% or higher. This slowdown follows several hours of grounded flights on Friday, when federal officials said more than 9,000 commercial flights were canceled, forcing tens of thousands of travelers into long waits or overnight stays in major airports across the country (source ID 1). [1]
Sources
Prepared with AI assistance from the cited sources.
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