USA: The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday night that airplane departures can resume after the agency lifted a nationwide ground stop. Officials blamed “overloaded” and “outdated” systems.
Airlines will not return to normal operations right away, as many planes and crews are out of position.
The FAA had grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon, causing hundreds of flights to be diverted. Officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety,” pointing to communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.
As of 6:45 p.m. ET, more than 10,000 flights were delayed and more than 3,200 were canceled within, into or out of the U.S., according to FlightAware.com, a live flight tracker. Flight tracking app Flighty reported more than 30,000 departures and arrivals were scheduled for the remainder of the day.
The cause of Friday’s communications issue has not been confirmed. Reports indicate an update to the private communications network connecting the nation’s air traffic control system caused it to reboot, leading to a crash and a communications outage.
Microsoft said its own global outage, from which it is still recovering, did not appear to be a factor.
