We’re wrapping up this live coverage of the US ground stop and travel chaos that followed – it’s just passed 12.50am in Washington DC.
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it → wrap → DC
Below’s a rundown on what happened, and you can read a full report here.
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you → ’ → report
The Federal Aviation Administration declared a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, throwing airports into sudden chaos, after a communications failure at air traffic control centres.
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Administration → declare → centres
More than 6,600 flights were cancelled and 8,600 delayed, with another 1,500 already cancelled for Sunday, according to FlightRadar24.
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1,500 → cancel → FlightRadar24
Aviation analysts said the four-hour nationwide grounding could disrupt airline schedules for days.
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grounding → say → days
The FAA lifted the ground stop later on Friday, with transportation secretary Sean Duffy saying US airspace reopened at 8.15pm ET (0115 GMT).
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airspace → lift → ET
But departures would resume gradually and it would take time for airlines to restore normal operations, he warned.
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he → resume → operations
“It’s going to be slow.”
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It → go → ?
All US-bound departures from European airports are suspended until 5am UTC on Saturday, according to a notice published by the European traffic control agency, Eurocontrol.
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departures → bind → agency
US airlines including American, United and Southwest began resuming flights on Friday night.
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airlines → include → night
“Thank you for your understanding as we work as quickly as possible to fully restore normal operations,” Delta said.
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Delta → thank → operations
Duffy said the federal government had “identified the problem” that brought down the US air traffic control system on Friday and it was “operational right now”.
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it → say → Friday
The system was “incredibly old”, he said.
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he → say → ?
“Our routers actually got overloaded with data, and … they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers.
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they → overload → routers
And because of that, we shut the system down.”
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we → shut → system
There was no indication from preliminary investigations that the communications stoppage was tied to a “nefarious attack”, homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
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Mullin → be → attack
Duffy blamed Congress for failing to fund a new air traffic control system that he said could prevent such outages, and called for $50bn to modernize it.
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he → blame → it
Here are some of the latest images coming in from US airports as the disruption from the FAA’s nationwide ground stop continues while some airlines slowly start resuming flights.
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airlines → come → flights
Just to recap, travel plans were thrown into chaos across the US on Friday afternoon as passengers on planes and in airport terminals were suddenly thrust into limbo due to the nationwide ground stop.
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passengers → recap → stop
Even now that the stoppage has been lifted, airlines will not be able to return to normal operations immediately because so many of their planes and crews are out of position.
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many → lift → position
At New York’s John F Kennedy airport, passengers found their travel plans abruptly cancelled – some even after they’d boarded, reports Edward Helmore in New York.
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Helmore → find → York
Steve Honberger, heading home to Portland, Oregon, with his wife and daughter, said he’d been on a plane about to take off when the shutdown was announced.
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shutdown → head → plane
They didn’t seem to know what’s happening, and they wanted to hold off as long as possible.
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they → seem → ?
The plane sat at the gate for an hour and 40 minutes.
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plane → sit → minutes
Delta has also said it is restarting flights, posting on social media:
The FAA-mandated ground stop has been lifted and we are safely resuming flights.
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we → say → flights
Thank you for your understanding as we work as quickly as possible to fully restore normal operations.
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we → thank → operations
Southwest Airlines said it was resuming a limited number of flights on Friday evening after consulting with the FAA.
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it → say → FAA
The airline would “continue to adjust our plans as needed”, it said.
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it → continue → plans
The FAA’s nationwide ground stop has been lifted.
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stop → lift → ?
We’re focused on operating as many remaining flights as possible this evening while positioning the airline for the strongest possible recovery in the days ahead.
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We → focus → days
It advised cutomers to check the status of their flights on the airline’s app or website.
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It → advise → app
All US-bound departures from European airports are suspended until 5am UTC on Saturday, according to a notice published by the European traffic control agency, Eurocontrol.
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departures → bind → agency
Forty-two European countries are members of Eurocontrol, including the 27 EU countries, the UK, Turkey and Israel.
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countries → include → countries
Looking in the opposite direction, however, several planes bound for Europe – including Dublin, Copenhagen, London, Milan, Paris and Rome – were allowed to depart from airports in Boston, New York and Washington in the past two hours.
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planes → look → hours
Ben Doherty, a Guardian Australia reporter, is currently on a plane at Sydney airport, waiting to fly to the US.
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Doherty → wait → US
He writes:
US-bound flights out of Sydney in Australia have been held on the tarmac, some for up to three hours.
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flights → write → hours
Flights are being gradually cleared for departure after being held in Australia by the FAA out of concern planes would not be able to land once they reached the US.
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they → clear → US
Our flight has had to take on extra fuel after running the air-conditioning (needed for a plane full of people) for several hours while waiting for clearance.
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flight → have → clearance
It’s 13 hours from Sydney to LAX.
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It → ’ → LAX
We’ve been on board for three hours so far, haven’t yet moved, but about to taxi shortly.
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We → move → hours
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
