Here's the latest
• What went wrong: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says a contractor was replacing an old copper wire on a telecommunications system that was at the root of outages that forced a rare nationwide ground stop yesterday. The Trump administration has blamed dated air traffic control technology for the issues that halted departures for hours, snarling travel across the country.
• Travel misery: Thousands of travelers face lingering delays and cancellations today. Here’s a look at some of the most affected airports, and what to do if your flight is impacted.
• Untangling the mess: Airlines are trying to clear the backlog of flights as air traffic control centers resume normal operations. Companies also have to sort out the logistics for pilots and flight attendants who were stranded or exceeded their permitted hours. Experts warn it will take days to get fully on track.
Updates
(31)Contractor was replacing an old copper wire yesterday, Duffy says
An old telecommunication system could be a partial cause for yesterday’s nationwide ground stop, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a Saturday morning news conference.
In at least one remote Federal Aviation Administration location, a contractor was doing routine maintenance to switch telecommunication lines from an old copper wire to fiber, Duffy said.
“It was such an old wire that it was being discontinued, meaning that line was going to get shut down. So we had to switch it over from old copper,” he added, saying this is “straightforward” work that has been happening across the country for decades.
CNN has reached out to the contractor for more information.
Duffy thanks flight crews, passengers for hard work and patience
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy praised pilots and air traffic controllers working during the nationwide ground stop which ceased flights nationwide.
“We had 3,500 aircraft in the air. We had a ground stop, and they safely landed all of our aircraft, which was outstanding,” he said at a press conference at the Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, DC, Saturday morning. “But I also want to thank our flight attendants, our ground crews, our airport authorities, all of them rallied yesterday.”
Duffy also expressed his gratitude to passengers affected by delays and cancellations. “We at the DOT and the FAA are grateful for that patience,” Duffy said.
Unclear whether equipment or contractor error caused issue, Duffy says
It is unclear whether an issue that occurred when a wire was being switched from copper to fiber was caused by contractor error or faulty equipment, Duffy said in a Saturday news conference.
The router being replaced started flooding other routers in the air traffic control system, Duffy said.
“We had over 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, and what that did was gave us issues with our communication with airplanes, and it also caused some disruption with our radar feeds,” he said.
When officials noticed this, they initiated the ground stop and began isolating the problem before opening the airspace later in the day, Duffy said, adding that travelers’ safety is “paramount.”
"Sorry we put you through this," FAA chief says to affected travelers
FAA chief Bryan Bedford has apologized to travelers who were impacted by yesterday’s nationwide ground stop, saying: “I’m sorry that we put you through this, but we did it for the right reasons.”
Bedford offered a “sincere apology to the American traveling public” for the disruption.
“I want you to understand we did that out of an abundance of caution,” he added. The system “started to exhibit some instability,” the cause of which could not immediately be assessed, he said.
“We had controllers who worked throughout the night, helping through the recovery. Maintenance technicians, our airline partners, our airport partners, everybody came together to try to mitigate this just as quickly as possible, and to take care of the travelers that were out there,” Bedford said.
Duffy asks for more investments for Department of Transportation
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said his department has been asking Congress for more money for years.
“I’ve asked for a lot of money now,” he said at a news conference today. “The Congress gave me a partial payment. They gave me $12.5 billion.”
He went on to detail how the Transportation Department has spent that money and went on to ask for more.
“I think this is a sign for them to lean in,” Duffy said, referencing yesterday’s nationwide ground stop. “Let’s make the investments and look forward to a brighter future in aviation, a safer future, a more efficient future in aviation.”
Duffy says department doesn't "believe" outages were due to cyber attack
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference today that the department does not “believe” the outages that led to a nationwide ground stop yesterday were not caused by a cyber attack.
He added: “Once we were able to isolate the work that was being done at this remote location, all of our systems came back online. … This was an FAA system that didn’t meet, didn’t meet the moment.”
Transportation secretary's news conference gets off to a halting start due to audio issues
Audio problems interrupted a news conference held by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just as it began.
Duffy was supposed to start speaking about the massive travel disruptions following yesterday’s nationwide ground stop, but his address was quickly derailed by feedback emitting from a microphone.
After the problem was sorted, the news conference began again.
“More tech issues as we do the press conference. Sorry about that. We (were) getting some feedback earlier,” Duffy said once the issue was resolved.
New York governor calls for transportation secretary to resign
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy must resign or be removed by President Donald Trump, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement this morning.
Duffy has blamed old air traffic control technology and routers overloaded with data for yesterday’s rare nationwide ground stop.
Hochul implored Congress to launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ground stop to “ensure it never happens again.”
Duffy is holding a news conference this morning that’s expected to start soon.
Pacific Northwest storm could add to flight disruptions tonight
Weather isn’t significantly hindering recovery from yesterday’s nationwide ground stop right now, but a storm moving into the Pacific Northwest could complicate flight operations in the region later this evening.
A strong cold front will bring rain, gusty winds and lowering cloud ceilings to western Washington and Oregon Saturday evening and overnight. The deteriorating conditions could cause additional delays at airports in the region, including SeaTac in Seattle and Spokane International Airport in Washington. Spokane International is currently one of the airports most affected by the outage, according to Flightradar24.
Low cloud ceilings can reduce visibility for pilots during takeoff and landing, making it more difficult to navigate safely. If clouds get too low, airports can restrict flight operations to maintain safe flying conditions.
Elsewhere, elevated winds in the Northeast, low visibility in Denver and low cloud ceilings in San Francisco could pose localized challenges.
American Airlines says "lingering effects" of ground stop will continue today
Additional delays and cancellations will persist for American Airlines flights, the company said in a new statement.
Flyers can change their reservation or receive a refund, the airline said. Customers should monitor their flight status before heading to the airport.
“While we are taking every step 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,” the company warned.
American canceled 1,239 of its flights yesterday, the most of any airline, according to FlightAware. As of this morning, it’s canceled 525 or 16% of its flights.
Here’s more on what to do if your flight is impacted.
Air traffic control centers resume normal operations nationwide, according to FAA log
The Federal Aviation Administration’s US airspace operations plan says it has returned to normal procedures at all of its air traffic control centers following yesterday’s nationwide ground stop.
The FAA is now prioritizing departures this morning in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, areas.
Travelers can still expect to experience long lines and delays, with thousands of flights canceled across the country Saturday as airlines work to clear the backlog caused by the stop.
Air traffic control tools are “far behind,” says aviation expert
The scope of yesterday’s nationwide outage is “worrisome,” said former Federal Aviation Administration national operations manager Ben Sliney on CNN’s “Smerconish” Saturday morning.
While there have been past telecommunications failures, one that affected so much of the airspace is unprecedented, said Sliney, who ordered every plane in the air to land on September 11, 2001.
As the Trump administration has blamed outdated air traffic control technology, Sliney, a retired air traffic controller, said today’s equipment is the same as what he used in 1980 or 1990 despite major technological advancements elsewhere. “We are far behind in terms of the technology availability and equipping the air traffic controllers with these tools,” he said.
“It is incomprehensible to me that we don’t have the equipment that technology can give us today,” he added.
Here's a look at the US airports most affected by today's travel disruption
Airports across the US — and the world — have been affected by yesterday’s nationwide ground stop, with thousands of flights scheduled for today being canceled.
Here’s a look at some of the US airports whose departures have been most affected, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
- LaGuardia Airport in New York
- John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Michigan
- Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky
- Kansas City International Airport in Missouri
- Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Alabama
- Albuquerque International Airport in New Mexico
- Bradley International Airport in Connecticut
- Spokane International Airport in Washington
Try, try again: Passengers return to Newark in hopes of resuming travel plans
I like to fly on Saturday mornings; it’s typically a quiet time of the week at Newark Liberty International Airport. But not today. This is the busiest I’ve ever seen Newark on a Saturday, since some of yesterday’s stranded passengers have been rebooked on new flights.
Some passengers — but not all. It’s a tale of the “have-a-flights” and have-nots here at Terminal C. The departure boards show about half of United’s flights are delayed or canceled.
The other half are getting out on time. I just talked with joyous passengers who are leaving for Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. And I’m boarding a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina, after having three flights canceled in quick succession last night.
This morning’s flight is almost full — and slightly delayed because the pilot said United is working to get a few more passengers squeezed into the last few available seats.
Duffy says "it is safe to fly" in update
Air traffic operations are steadily improving and planes are taking off, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted to X Saturday, writing, “It is safe to fly.”
Delays and cancellations will continue as carriers reschedule flights and crews are repositioned, but it remains top priority for travelers to get home safely to their families.
“To our air traffic controllers, pilots and flight crews who are working around the clock: the nation thanks you for your professionalism and dedication to the flying public,” Duffy wrote.
Duffy and Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford are set to hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. ET from the Department of Transportation headquarters, as we’ve reported.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to hold news conference after yesterday's ground stop
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is due to hold a news conference laster this morning after all flights across the country were grounded yesterday, causing massive disruption that has continued into the weekend.
Duffy is set to be joined by Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford.
The news conference is expected to take place at 10:30 a.m. ET. We’ll bring you the latest updates.
More than 3,600 flights in the US canceled Saturday, according to FlightAware
More than 3,600 flights within, into or out of the US have been canceled for Saturday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware, as airlines work through the backlog from yesterday’s nationwide hourslong ground stop.
As of 8:45 a.m. ET, Delta Air Lines had canceled 20% of its scheduled Saturday flights, United Airlines 17% and American Airlines 15%.
Weary travelers can expect more long lines and travel disruptions at airports across the country.
Flight disruptions will “probably” persist until midweek, CNN aviation analyst says
Travel woes could continue for several more days, CNN aviation analyst and former managing director for the National Transportation Safety Board Peter Goelz said.
Airlines face several challenges, he said: Aircraft are out of position, and flight crews have reached their duty limits.
“Since we don’t know what happened, we don’t know how to fix it. This could occur again in Christmas week or Thanksgiving week,” Goelz said. He called for closer oversight of how Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is spending air traffic funding.
The public also needs to hear from FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, who Goelz says “has been missing in action” during “the most devastating failure for the FAA in my memory.”
"Our Uber driver gave us pillows”: Traveler recounts chaos at world’s busiest airport
Yesterday’s nationwide ground stop and the thousands of subsequent flight cancellations have left passengers stuck at airports across the country, with one comparing the scenes at Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, to a “disaster zone.”
The man, named Joel, told CNN’s Victor Blackwell that he was traveling through Atlanta airport as part of his journey from Cancún, Mexico.
After his first flight landed in Atlanta, he learned of the nationwide ground stop through an alert on his phone. The plane for his connecting flight to Hartford, Connecticut, was on the tarmac and flight attendants were at the gate, but the pilot never arrived, so the flight was canceled, he said.
Though he was able to book a room at a hotel about 45 minutes from the airport, it seemed “a little sketchy,” so he returned to the airport and slept in an atrium on the second floor.
Despite the chaos, “everyone’s been very accommodating,” he said. “Our Uber driver actually gave us pillows. So there’s good people left in the world.”
Joel hopes to return to Hartford tonight. He said he is booked on a flight scheduled to depart after 10 p.m., but it has already been delayed.
Airlines will work to get pilots and flight attendants back on track today
After yesterday’s outage, many commercial airline pilots and flight attendants could be displaced from where they were originally due to be located.
Airlines often have crew scheduling teams that support pilots and flight attendants in schedule-building and rest accommodations.
While every case is different, crew members would be given a set period of rest ultimately determining whether they would be legal to fly today, depending on the length of trip they were on or the duration of their shift.
Airlines and their unions have rules as to how long these workers can actually stay up in order to work a flight.
Amid the ongoing disruption, it’s likely there are still crews that will have schedule changes today, whether they need to go home or are required to fly today.
