Travel chaos continued into the weekend following Friday’s rare nationwide ground stop, with thousands of fresh flight cancellations Saturday and international authorities warning flights to and from the United States could be disrupted.
More than 3,200 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled on Saturday alone, FlightAware, which monitors flight disruptions, said.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have both canceled more than 2,200 flights through Saturday, flight-tracking site Flight Radar reported late Friday. United Airlines has canceled 1,800 while Southwest had canceled nearly 1,400, it said.
Trump administration officials blamed Friday’s ground stop on an aging air control system that is patched together and in need of modernization. It ended about 8:15 p.m. Eastern time Friday after more than four hours, but is expected to lead to airport chaos throughout the weekend.
By Friday night, more than 15,000 flights across the U.S. had been disrupted, AirNav Radar said, with airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas Fort Worth, New York, Denver and Los Angeles worst affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration said late Friday some departures had resumed, but passengers should contact their airlines for updates.
“Before clearing flights to resume, we thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable,” it said.
Airlines warned customers they needed time to reorganize following the ground stop. Delta Air Lines said Friday while some flights have resumed, “it will take time to reset our operation, including the positioning of aircraft and crews.”
American Airlines said it would prioritize certain flights to non-hub cities and international routes “to position aircraft and crew where they are needed to help restore our operation,” adding that it expected delays and cancellations into Saturday.
United Airlines said it had resumed operations but expected “residual impact” from Friday’s order, while Southwest said customers may experience delays as they work to recover.
The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority also warned of international disruption early Saturday as airlines work to rebook affected passengers.
Customers are entitled to a refund of the ticket price in the event an airline cancels a flight and the traveler chooses not to accept travel, vouchers or other forms of compensation, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Passengers are also entitled to refunds if they are subject to a significant delay or changes.
The exact issue that caused the ground stop remains unclear and Friday’s order caused confusion at airports and in the air.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said at a news conference Friday that the aging system “went down everywhere,” and that the problem had been sparked in the process of upgrading the system that caused it to overload.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday at a news conference the outage did not appear related to a cyberattack. “It appears that this was mechanically driven. However, we’re still looking, so we’re not going to rule that out,” he said.
The post Travel chaos, flight cancellations continue following nationwide ground stop appeared first on Washington Post.
