U.S. air travel is slowly recovering after a nationwide ground stop on Friday brought departures to a halt, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and airlines scrambling to rebook. As of Saturday morning, flight tracking service FlightAware reported nearly 2,000 delays and close to 3,800 cancellations for flights within, into, or out of the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) attributed the disruption to a telecommunications outage, a rare event that has previously triggered such drastic measures only in extraordinary circumstances, such as the September 11 attacks and a 2023 computer failure caused by human error.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest, saw the most disruptions, with 85 cancellations and 54 delays, according to FlightAware. Chicago's O'Hare and New York's John F. Kennedy airports also experienced significant backlogs.
Even after the ground stop was lifted, the ripple effects continued to mount, causing a backlog that aviation experts say could take days to clear. Airlines began offering waivers and assistance to affected passengers, with United, Delta, and Southwest all announcing they would waive fare differences and change fees.
"Thank you for your patience as we work to restore our full schedule," United Airlines posted on X. "There are no fees to change your flight, and we'll waive any fare difference." American Airlines also waived change fees and offered refunds, though it still requires passengers to cover fare differences.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged the ongoing challenges, stating on X that operations are "slowly returning to normal" but that "you will continue to see some delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition aircraft/crews where they are needed most."
The ground stop also had broader implications, disrupting schedules for college football teams and other events, as the FAA's action rippled through the weekend. The incident has reignited concerns about the aging air traffic control system, with Secretary Duffy calling for $50 billion in new funding to modernize infrastructure.
Lawmakers have also demanded answers. Representative Garcia described the ground stop as "disturbing" and called for full transparency, while Duffy and Senator Mullin are set to brief the press on the communication failure that led to the halt.
As the system recovers, passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight status and to be prepared for potential delays and cancellations in the coming days.
