Travelers stranded and thousands of flights canceled after FAA ground stop. Here’s what we know

Airspace in the United States slowly began to return to normal Saturday after a rare national stopover canceled thousands of flights and stranded travelers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference Saturday, “We’re back up and running.”

He thanked the pilots, airline personnel, air traffic controllers and the FAA for their professionalism during the ground stop.

“They landed all our planes safely,” he said, also thanking passengers for their patience during this significant disruption.

“Planes are backing up, taxiing and taking off, and it’s safe to fly,” Duffy said earlier in a social media post Saturday.

“You will continue to see delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition planes and crews to where they are needed most.”

More than 4,100 flights were canceled Saturday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware, while about 3,200 more were delayed.

How did the FAA ground stop happen?

THE ground stop began at 3:36 p.m. EST Friday when the FAA ordered the shutdown while about 3,500 flights were in the air.

“The FAA ordered a stopover out of an abundance of caution when more than 3,500 planes were in the air,” Duffy said. All airborne aircraft were able to land safely.

It was lifted around 8:20 p.m. EST Friday.

It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed. Before that, the last national ground stoppage took place after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

About 9,159 flights were canceled Friday and 7,190 were delayed, according to FlightAware, stranding passengers at the country’s major airports.

Officials attributed the shutdown to aging system infrastructure and legacy technology.

“We have an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said.

Duffy said Saturday that a preliminary investigation revealed that an L3Harris contractor was working at a remote FAA site and was replacing old copper wire with fiber optics while replacing a router. The router being switched then began flooding the other routers, overloading the system. There were 1,000 login attempts every four to five seconds, he said.

The transportation secretary said the FAA was working to determine whether the problem was human error or whether a faulty router was installed. Duffy said many contractors are “taking our money and providing really poor service.” He also said L3Harris, a technology and defense company, owned the system.

L3Harris said Saturday that the company is modernizing communications infrastructure supporting the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA.

“We support the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the ground shutdown of our nation’s air transportation on November 13,” the company said in a statement, adding that it takes the nationwide ground shutdown and “its impact” seriously.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said updating the cables was a routine maintenance issue the agency had been working on for years. About 70% of the system has been transferred from copper wires to fiber. After the router began flooding the system for 45 minutes, the FAA could not determine the cause of the instability. The instability then spread to 17 establishments, he said.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” the FAA decided to order a ground stop, Bedford said. He said he supported the call.

Bedford said there was no evidence of anything nefarious or AI-related.

High-level government sources told CBS News on Friday that the problem was limited to specific hardware: Cisco 600 series routers manufactured between 2001 and 2006.

Duffy said in an article that the FAA is working to modernize “this aging infrastructure with a $12.5 billion down payment guaranteed by President Trump, but it’s not ENOUGH.” The Trump administration increased its funding request for air traffic control to $50 billion Friday evening.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during a press briefing Friday that there was no indication the ground check was the result of a cyberattack. Duffy said Saturday that he didn’t think it was a cyberattack, but that it was an FAA system that wasn’t “up to the moment.”

Can Americans still travel safely?

Several U.S. officials have said it is completely safe for Americans to fly.

“Our top priority right now is to ensure travelers return home safely to their families as quickly as possible,” Mr Duffy said. He added Saturday that the United States has the “busiest” and “safest” airspace in the world.

The FAA administrator said Saturday that 50,000 flights were scheduled for Friday and that at the time of the ground shutdown, 30,000 flights had been completed. Due to the ground stopover, about 12,000 flights could not be operated – about 3,000 of them were private flights, while the rest were commercial, Bedford said.

Bedford said there would likely be 5,000 flight cancellations Saturday, but airlines should be fully back on schedule by the end of Sunday.

“We anticipate that between four and 5,000 of the 41,000 flights scheduled today will likely be canceled, so we will still have delays and cancellations today, but that will prepare us for a full recovery tomorrow,” he said.

Delays remain possible at the country’s main airports, including those in Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, New York City, Los Angeles And Baltimore.

Duffy said travelers should check with their airline before heading to the airport. Delta said Saturday it will offer its customers flexible rebooking options. The airline said it was continuing to resume operations after a four-hour layover.

“Customers traveling today should expect additional delays and schedule adjustments as we work to reposition flight crews and aircraft,” Delta said.

American Airlines said Saturday that the airline has taken a number of steps toward recovery, but travelers should continue to monitor the situation as operations return to normal.

“While we are taking all necessary steps to limit the impact on our customers and team members, the lingering effects of this major disruption to the national airspace system will continue today, including additional delays and cancellations.”

Southwest said Saturday that the airline had implemented a waiver to allow customers to cancel their flights or rebook them for a later date without penalty.

“We are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” Southwest said.