FAA says nationwide ground stop is over – after thousands of flights were cancelled
The FAA has lifted its nationwide ground stop after an hourslong halt to US departures that snarled air travel across the country.
By YouScoop Desk · · 1 min read
The gist
- The FAA says its nationwide ground stop is over, ending an hourslong halt to US departures.
- Reports say an air traffic communications outage led to flights being grounded across the US.
- Thousands of flights were cancelled, and the sources do not yet say how long it will take to recover.
Why it matters
The halt covered US departures nationwide, so anyone flying in the country was affected. The cause was an air traffic communications outage, which shows how much air travel depends on those systems. Keep an eye on official updates if you have a trip coming up.
The FAA has said that its nationwide ground stop is over, bringing an end to an hourslong halt on US departures. While the stop was in place, air travel was snarled across the country.
Reports describe this as a rare move, with the FAA issuing the ground stop nationwide at once. That scale is what made the disruption stand out from the usual delays that airlines and airports deal with.
What caused the halt
The trigger was an air traffic communications outage. Reuters reported that flights were grounded across the US because of that outage.
Reports say thousands of flights were cancelled during the halt. For anyone who had a flight scheduled in the US while the stop was in effect, the result was the same: departures were held until the stop was lifted.
What happens next
Earlier in the disruption, CNN published a live update saying there was no timeline for resolving the ground stop, as flight cancellations kept climbing. Now that the FAA says the stop is over, the sources do not say how quickly flights will return to their normal schedule. That detail is not yet known.
The lifting of the stop means departures can resume, but the cancellations already made will still affect passengers who had plans in the air. The sources we have do not say how those passengers will be rebooked or how long the backlog will take to clear.
We will keep this page updated as more confirmed details come in, and we will stick only to what the reports say. If you were caught up in this disruption, how did it affect your travel plans?
Background
The Guardian described this as a rare nationwide ground stop issued by the FAA. Reports say the stop was triggered by an air traffic communications outage. Such a wide halt is unusual, which is why it drew so much attention.
Sources
This story is written in our own words from reports by The New York Times and CNN. Spotted an error? Tell us.
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