A nationwide ground stop grounded flights across the United States on Friday forcing airlines to cancel more than 2,000 flights and stranding travelers for over four hours.
Legacy Routers Failed Due to Data Overload
The Federal Aviation Administration halted all domestic departures at approximately 4 p.m. ET as data issues rippled through regional air traffic control centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained that data routers became overloaded and started generating inconsistent signals.
“This is all the old legacy equipment. All of the new equipment that's been deployed did not go down,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated there was no cyberattack and no link to this week’s Microsoft outage.
The FAA-issued nationwide ground stop has lifted. United is resuming operations, including some Friday night flights. Safety is our highest priority as we take care of our customers and employees. Thank you for your patience as we work to restore our full schedule. Please…
“Our routers actually got overloaded with data and … they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers,” Duffy said.
Airlines and Sports Schedules Disrupted
The restriction lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET after more than four hours, but the cascade of delays extended into the weekend. Over 3,000 US flights were canceled on Saturday, coming after a nationwide ground stop that canceled thousands of flights. United Airlines said on X that it is working to restore its full schedule.
Scenes from the FAA stoppage: Colorado State is holding a walk-through at Northern Colorado Regional Airport as the team waits to fly to Pullman to play at Washington State on Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/JiKvb9FAJ5
“While U.S. flights have resumed, there may be some follow-on disruption as airlines work to rebook affected passengers and get all services back to normal,” Tim Johnson, consumer director at the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, said. Passengers encountered severe disruptions at airports across the country.
Hoping to surprise her daughter’s best friend, Emily Brown and her 14-year-old daughter ultimately abandoned their travel plans after waiting more than four hours on Friday at the Dallas airport for a flight bound for Columbus, Ohio. Having arrived from Newark, New Jersey, Ruth Coles found herself trapped aboard her aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport for upward of five hours while expressing uncertainty regarding their departure timing.
The sports world was thrown into turmoil when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a multi-hour nationwide halt to all flights on Friday, forcing NBA, NHL, and collegiate squads to rush for alternative ways to arrive at their events on time. Because the majority of college football programs competing on Saturday usually hit the road a day early, the suspension stalled numerous institutions—such as No. 2 Utah, No. 8 Texas, and No. 9 Tennessee—right as they prepared to depart for away games.
Among the weekend’s premier matchups, the Utes are slated to play at No. 22 Arizona, the Longhorns head to No. 24 LSU, and the Volunteers take on Texas A&M.
The safety of the flying public is always the FAA’s highest priority. The FAA lifted the ground stop and some flight departures are resuming. Before clearing flights to resume, we thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable.…
Following a retreat to campus during the suspension, Texas and Tennessee resumed travel plans immediately after the four-hour restriction was lifted, ultimately touching down at their destinations late Friday night. Other affected programs included Texas Tech, which posted on social media images of its arrival for a game at Oklahoma State.
“The pilot keeps saying they are telling him we are next in line,” Ruth Coles said.
Professional sports leagues and soccer teams also faced major logistical hurdles. NFL teams playing Sunday typically travel the day before their games and were expected to fly as planned Saturday. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets were among five NBA teams scheduled to fly Friday for games Saturday, while the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, and Memphis Grizzlies played Friday night and were due to fly afterward, with the Cavaliers playing in Miami on Friday night and scheduled to play the Dallas Mavericks at home Saturday.
Team representatives for the Kansas City Current expressed uncertainty regarding when their flight would receive clearance to depart for their Sunday semifinal against Gotham FC in New York, whereas the Utah Royals had already arrived in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of their Saturday National Women’s Soccer League semifinal against the Washington Spirit.
The U.S. men’s national team’s match against Haiti on Saturday in Miami was unaffected by the ground stop, as both teams and officials already were in town for the first leg of the two-match CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal series.
Nationwide Ground Stop Caused Flight Cancellations and Travel Delays
The shutdown marked the longest nationwide ground stop since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Domestic carriers spent Saturday attempting to recover from a 25-year-record nationwide ground stop that resulted in more than 2,000 canceled flights, generated worldwide ripple effects, left travelers stranded, and compelled athletic teams at both the professional and collegiate levels to scramble for alternative travel arrangements.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that getting every plane back in the air will take some time, stating that it is going to be slow. Duffy warned about future vulnerabilities if infrastructure is not modernized.
Duffy cautioned that similar incidents will recur unless the American public and Congress authorize construction, though he anticipated that operations will be fully restored and running in time for the Thanksgiving travel period.
Earlier coverage: FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop, but Delays and Cancellations Continue
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