US FAA Lifts Ground Stop but Over 2,000 Flights Cancelled Saturday

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop on Saturday after more than four hours, but the disruption continues with thousands of flights to and from the United States cancelled. The FAA said it had thoroughly tested its systems to confirm they were stable and reliable before allowing flights to resume, according to BBC. Passenger safety remains the FAA’s absolute priority, the agency added.

More than 2,000 domestic and international flights to or from the US were already cancelled for Saturday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Another 300 or more were expected to face delays. This follows a chaotic Friday, when over 7,700 US-related flights were cancelled and over 8,000 were delayed after the ground stop was imposed.

The nationwide departure ban, which affected all domestic flights, lasted more than four hours and was reportedly caused by a telecommunications service outage. It was only the second time in recent US history that all departures were suspended nationwide, following the attacks of 11 September 2001. The previous similar incident occurred in January 2023 when the FAA halted domestic departures for less than two hours.

Travellers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight status, as schedules may continue to be adjusted. Airlines are working to rebook affected passengers, but the backlog could take days to clear.