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The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has lifted the longest nationwide ground flight suspension since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The FAA said Friday's stoppage, which lasted more than four hours, was due to "extraordinary circumstances" due to a communication problem that affected all air traffic control centers.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of a cyberattack and everyone was safe.
This is what we know.
How many flights were affected?
The suspension of takeoffs caused more than 8,500 delays and nearly 8,000 flight cancellations on Friday, according to FlightAware.
The initial FAA announcement, made at 15:54 EST (20:54 GMT), indicated that all flights departing from the United States would be grounded until further notice.
At that time, more than 3,500 aircraft were in flight; some were diverted to other airports, while others continued to their destinations.
Hours later, some flights were allowed to take off from San Francisco International Airport.
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The Federal Aviation Administration reopened airspace at 8:15 p.m. EST.
What happened to international flights
All air traffic to the United States from Eurocontrol member states was suspended.
Eurocontrol has 42 Member States, including dozens of EU countries, the United Kingdom and Türkiye, as well as Israel and Morocco.
Passengers have been warned of possible disruptions during Saturday morning.
For example, in the case of the United Kingdom, several flights to the United States from Heathrow airport were canceled or suffered delays; while at Gatwick airport, which serves London, flights were operating normally.
image copyrightJekek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Australia's largest international airport, Sydney, had suspended all flights to the United States, but scheduled flights are now expected to take off as scheduled.
Air Canada also canceled flights between the United States and Canada.
In Mexico, flights were suspended and passengers at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) with US destinations were recommended to maintain communication with their airline to verify the status of their flight and find out about possible modifications to their itinerary.
When will normal service resume?
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated at a news conference Friday night that the outage would cause a knock-on effect for days to come.
"It will take us some time to resolve the consequences of what happened this afternoon," Duffy said.
Tens of thousands of people were stranded at airports across the country; many of them, "not knowing where they are going to spend the night," Duffy said.
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines reported they were resuming operations.
American Airlines said its goal is to "operate as many of the remaining flights as possible tonight." For its part, JetBlue announced that it will resume its flights on Saturday morning.
British Airways, which has seen some of its flights to the United States affected, recommended passengers check the status of their flight, but go to the airport as planned.
image copyrightEPA
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In the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, airlines may be required to pay compensation if the reason for the delay is considered to be within their control, such as aircraft breakdown or crew illness.
Therefore, airlines are not obliged to compensate passengers in case of problems related to air traffic control.
However, passengers still have some protection under US federal and country-specific laws.
Under the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, for flights that are canceled or have “significant delays”—defined as three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international routes—the passenger must be offered a travel alternative or a full refund of the ticket price if the passenger decides not to fly.
Likewise, the regulations require all airlines to process the refund of tickets purchased with a credit card within a maximum period of seven working days after the request; For tickets paid through other payment methods, the period is 20 days. Passengers who accept an alternative flight are not entitled to a refund.
In the United States, airlines are not required to provide vouchers for meals or lodging, although some may offer free assistance to their customers.
However, if passengers are traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States, or flying with a British airline, they may enjoy additional rights.
Under UK law, airlines have a duty to care for passengers when a flight is delayed or cancelled, regardless of the reason. It usually includes a reasonable amount of food, free accommodation, and transportation to and from that accommodation.
The Civil Aviation Authority recommends keeping proof of payment and not incurring expenses greater than those strictly necessary.
As regulations change depending on the country, consult with local authorities about your specific case.
What caused the suspension of ground operations?
Duffy said the antiquated communications system for air traffic control became overloaded.
"This is an analog telecommunications system. Our switches and routers became overloaded with data and stopped working," Duffy explained.
He indicated that this affected both communications and radar. According to him, the system requires a complete renovation, with an estimated cost of $50 billion.
"It will continue to fail," he said.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, declared at the press conference that there is "no evidence" that it was a cyber attack.
He also ruled out any relationship with the global interruption of Microsoft services that began on Thursday.
Mullin explained that the addition of new technology to an outdated air traffic control system caused its collapse.
Both secretaries insisted the public was never in danger during the outage.
When was the last time ground operations were suspended?
This stoppage is only the second of its kind on a national scale since the period immediately following the plane hijackings perpetrated by Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001.
"It appears to be the worst since 9/11, although obviously not of that magnitude," Dr Guy Gratton, associate professor of aviation at Cranfield University, told BBC Verify.
Gratton mentioned a stoppage that occurred in the United States in 2023, caused by a failure in the air navigation warning system (Notam).
"That incident lasted one hour and 52 minutes; it caused the delay of about 9,500 flights and the cancellation of about 1,300," he said.
The 2023 outage prevented the publication of safety advisories for air traffic, forcing planes to be grounded until the system was restored.
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