US flight cancellations persist as FAA predicts Sunday recovery
A router failure at a remote facility halted all US departures on Friday; more than 9,000 flights were cancelled that day and airlines are still rebuilding schedules.
A nationwide ground stop that halted departures across the United States was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. Eastern on Friday, but more than 4,000 flights had been cancelled by midday on Saturday and the Federal Aviation Administration said airlines would not run full schedules until the close of business on Sunday.
Global News reported the halt as the longest flight stoppage in the United States in 25 years and the second nationwide stop to all departures since the 11 September 2001 attacks. The other, in January 2023, kept domestic flights on the ground for less than two hours.
FlightAware counted 9,155 flights within, into or out of the country cancelled on Friday, according to Global News. Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said 41,000 flights were scheduled for Saturday and that between 4,000 and 5,000 of them would be cancelled. He said airline partners believed they could restore full schedule integrity by Sunday evening, and that every passenger would be rebooked or refunded, adding that travellers should contact their carriers directly.
Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, said there was "zero evidence" that a cyber attack or an AI system caused the failure. He said it happened during "routine maintenance" to move the network from copper wiring to fibre at a remote location, and that investigators were trying to establish whether the fault was user or installer error by contractor L3Harris, or a faulty router. CNA reported the problem was traced to L3Harris's installation of at least one new router at a remote facility. L3Harris, which owns and operates the FAA's air traffic control communications system, said it was supporting the investigation and took the ground stop and its effect on travellers seriously.
The FAA has replaced thousands of copper lines with fibre and upgraded hundreds of radio systems under an overhaul that began last year after Congress approved $12.5bn. Duffy said he is seeking $30bn more to finish the work. Bedford said aircraft would stay on the ground unless the agency was "100 per cent confident" of the stability and resilience of the system, and that it was as safe as it had been two weeks earlier.
The disruption crossed the border. Air Canada cancelled about 250 flights on Friday, affecting around 27,000 customers, spokesperson Yasmine Mehdi told Global News, and said aircraft and crews were out of position on Saturday. Calgary International Airport recorded 47 cancellations and about 48 delayed departures on Friday, a spokesperson said, though not all were confirmed as linked to the stop. Porter Airlines said schedules would probably take through the weekend to return to normal, with passengers rebooked or refunded, and WestJet offered one free change or cancellation for travel to and from the continental US, Mexico or the Caribbean booked between Friday and Sunday.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, told Global News that updating the copper network was justified but that some of the FAA's larger technology changes had not been fully tested. He said the failure was "Mr. Duffy's own making".
How the reports differ
Global News led with stranded passengers at Toronto's Pearson airport and with Air Canada's own count of about 250 flights cancelled on Friday, figures the other outlets did not carry. CNA put the cause first, reporting that the problem was traced to L3Harris installing at least one new router at a remote facility. The headlines split on timing: Reuters said air travel issues would persist well into Sunday, while NDTV and CTV News said the schedule would be back to normal by the end of Sunday. Global News alone quoted McGill University's John Gradek, who said some FAA upgrades had not been fully tested and called the failure "Mr. Duffy's own making".
Watch
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