FAA Ground Stop Leaves Travelers Stranded as Thousands of Flights Are Canceled Here

Flights Gradually Resume

The FAA said the stop was issued as a precaution while more than 3,500 planes were in the air. All airborne planes landed safely. Airlines warned that schedule changes could continue while they move aircraft and crews to where they are needed. Delta said travelers should expect delays and further adjustments.

Telecommunications Failure Under Review

A preliminary FAA investigation found that a telecommunications failure caused the outage. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday that FAA routers were overloaded with data, disrupting the flow of information.

Senior government sources told CBS News the issue was limited to specific Cisco 600 series routers made between 2001 and 2006. Officials attributed the ground stop to aging infrastructure and legacy technology. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday that there were no indications the disruption resulted from a cyberattack.

Delays At Major Airports

Delays remained possible at major airports across the country, including Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, New York City, Los Angeles and Baltimore. Several U.S. officials said it was completely safe for Americans to fly. Airlines said the effects of the disruption could continue through the day, including further delays and cancellations.

Rare Nationwide Disruption

The ground stop was the first nationwide shutdown of its kind since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that, the last national ground stop occurred on September 11, 2001.