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US Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford said air travel should be fully recovered by Sunday, after the nationwide ground stop disrupted thousands of flights
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About 9,200 flights were canceled on Friday and thousands more on Saturday, according to FlightAware figures
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Officials blamed overloaded routers in an aging air traffic control network and said there is no sign of a cyberattack
US airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are working through a backlog of canceled flights after Friday’s nationwide ground stop, with Administrator Bryan Bedford saying the system will be fully recovered on November 15.
Airlines expect “full schedule integrity by the close of business on Sunday,” US network ABC News reported.
About 160 flights were canceled for Sunday as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Airspace began returning to normal on Saturday, though delays and cancellations continued as airlines repositioned aircraft and crews, according to another US network, CBS News.
American Airlines capped fares on domestic and short international flights and added 1,750 seats on extra Saturday flights. American, Delta, United, Southwest and JetBlue waived change fees or allowed free rebooking for flights in the affected days, Fox News reported.
FlightAware counted about 9,159 flights canceled and 7,190 delayed on Friday, CBS reported. Saturday cancellations were more than 3,800 at midday, according to CBS and about 4,000 per Fox News. By the afternoon, ABC News put them above 5,200. The counts differ because they were taken at different times.
The FAA issued the ground stop on Friday afternoon, between 3:36 and 3:54 p.m. Eastern depending on the report, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. About 3,500 aircraft were airborne when it began.
What went wrong
A preliminary FAA investigation points to a telecommunications failure, CBS reported. Duffy said routers became overloaded and disrupted the flow of information. According to ABC, he said one router began flooding others in the network after contractor L3Harris was replacing copper equipment.
L3Harris said it is supporting the investigation and has completed more than 70% of the planned conversion from copper wire to fiber optics. CBS reported, citing senior government sources, that the problem was isolated to Cisco 600 series routers made between 2001 and 2006.
Bedford said there was “zero evidence of anything nefarious,” and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there were no signs of a cyberattack, though officials said the investigation continues. Officials said flying is safe, and Duffy advised travelers to check with their airlines before going to the airport.
Funding and political fallout
Duffy said a $12.5-billion down payment has started modernization but more is needed. The administration raised its air traffic control funding request to $50 billion late Friday, CBS and Fox News reported. Duffy called the situation an emergency and warned of more failures without funding. New York’s governor called on Duffy to resign, ABC reported.
