Travel chaos may continue to linger across the US tonight and into tomorrow, after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted the rare nationwide ground stop across airports nationwide. This comes as thousands of airline crew and aircraft remain displaced.
On Friday, a ground stop forced all aircraft to be grounded for more than four hours due to a telecommunications and tech outage stemming from overloaded routers and data inconsistencies. With the Department of Homeland Security explaining that this came from the patching of a new system into existing framework that led to the older system to become overwhelmed. This was the first ground stop of this magnitude since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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Flight Delays And Cancellations Remain Likely
Passengers are encouraged to be patient and reconfirm the status of their flights before heading to the airport. President and Chief Executive Officer of Airlines for America spoke with NewsNation and reiterated that while the agency moved quickly to issue the nationwide ground stop for safety concerns until affected systems were restored, this has displaced thousands of airline crew members and many aircraft nationwide.
It is expected that the side effects of the ground stop could be felt by passengers for days, as airlines work around the clock to reaccommodate affected aircraft, crew and passengers. According to CNN, it is suggested that more than 7,500 flights within, into, or out of the US were canceled today following the ground stop.
In addition to canceled flights, more than 10,000 flights experienced delays. The knock-on effect is already hampering Saturday’s flight plans, with more than 1,500 flights already being canceled.
Airspace Reopened At 8:15 PM, But Delays and Cancellations Continue
The ground stop has sent ripples out across the globe, with many flights destined for the US delayed. While airspace was reopened at 8:15 PM on Friday, flight departures would only resume gradually, and it will take time for airlines to be able to fully restore operations. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted, ‘it’s going to be slow’.
Highlighted from this event is the ongoing strain of the US air traffic control system, which is plagued with aging technology, equipment and communication problems. This pressure is amplified by the severe shortage of several thousand air traffic controllers. However, in the face of today’s travel chaos, some air traffic controllers have already expressed that they ‘don’t buy’ Duffy’s explanation for what happened, with Anna Giaritelli telling CNN that a main reason is:
“These types of switches they’re doing that the FAA is doing, they don’t happen during the day. They don’t happen during busy times like a Friday afternoon. They’re doing these midweek, in the middle of the night when there is no air traffic going on.”
Trouble first was identified at 3:36 PM, when air traffic control centres across the country noted instability in radar and communication systems. This quickly escalated with switches and routers that carry critical data becoming overloaded. As a result, inconsistent information from these systems prompted the FAA to issue the rare ground stop for flights nationwide.
Flying Is Safe, Planes Were Able To Land Safely
A ground stop is exactly what it sounds like, restricting flight operations on the ground. This meant that aircraft already in the air were permitted to continue to their intended destinations without major disruption. Thousands of aircraft were able to land safely during the ground stop; however, no jets were permitted to depart.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mulline stressed that the FAA updates to the aging systems were the reason behind the ground stop, and the halt in flight operations was not due to a threat to the US, and had no links to the Thursday Microsoft outage. The Transportation Secretary has also warned that there could be more disruption in the future unless systems are updated.
As airlines resume flight operations, displaced crew, passengers and aircraft will slowly return to normal; however, this is expected to take several days until services are back to normal. It is not expected to impact the upcoming Thanksgiving travel rush in late November.
