The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the lifting of a ban on aircraft take-off imposed at all US airports, due to a communication problem that affected air traffic control centers across the country.
The order to ground the aircraft at all US airports was received at 15:36 on Friday afternoon (East Coast time, 22:36 in Cyprus). The measure was lifted almost five hours later, at 20:15 (East Coast time in the US, 03:15 early Saturday morning in Cyprus).
This was followed by a press conference given by the Ministers of Transport and Homeland Security, during which they said that the decision to ground the aircraft throughout the country was taken for precautionary reasons.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the problem to the outdated air traffic control system, stressing that generous funding is needed to modernize it. "The president has asked for $30 billion. I want 50 billion," he said characteristically.
In the same vein was the position of the Minister of Homeland Security, who stated that there is not the slightest indication that the problem is due to a "cyber attack". A "modernization" of the air traffic control system is needed, Markwayne Mallin stressed, estimating that it will cost "about 50 billion dollars".
The air traffic control system in the US is plagued by technical failures, communication problems and controller shortages as the FAA tries to replace outdated infrastructure.
Congress last year approved a $12.5 billion fund to modernize the system, while on Friday the FAA and the White House requested an additional $30.1 billion.
It was only the second time, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that aircraft were grounded at all US airports. The previous one was in January 2023, when the FAA had suspended aircraft takeoffs for almost two hours.
Hundreds of flight diversions
According to data from aviation data analytics firm Cirium, at least 827 flights had been diverted by 7:05 p.m., East Coast time. Of these, 670 returned to the airport from which they had departed, while 157 headed to a different airport.
Among the airports that received a large number of diverted flights were Washington Dulles, Los Angeles International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, and Nashville.
About 11.000 flights, which were to carry more than 1,5 million passengers, were scheduled to depart from US airports after 16:00, East Coast time, which increased the risk of new cancellations and diversions.
United Airlines and American Airlines announced that flights already in the air would resume. American Airlines also said it would make efforts to get passengers to their destinations as soon as possible after the restrictions were lifted.
Passengers stranded at airports
At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, travellers were informed about the suspension of flights by screens showing delays in all areas of the airport. Many contacted relatives and friends, trying to decide whether they should spend the night in the city or look for an alternative way of transportation.
27-year-old Amber McQuilkin, from Seattle, was in danger of missing a trip to New York with friends for the League of Legends World Finals. As she said, her friends had already arrived at their destination, while she did not receive clear information about her flight.
Austin Curtis and his wife, who were traveling from South Bend, Indiana, to Denver for a friend's baby shower, faced similar problems. The couple had boarded a flight to O'Hare when passengers were informed they had to disembark.
Problems in the movement of sports teams
The suspension of flights also affected the travel of NBA, NHL and university sports teams, while NFL teams expressed concern about whether they would be able to travel in time for the weekend games.
There were also delays in cargo flights. FedEx, the world's largest cargo airline, announced that it was ready to activate contingency plans to limit the impact.
U.S. airlines transport about 61,000 tons of goods every day, from letters to parcels, to and from more than 220 countries.
At the center of the old technology of control systems
Authorities were also considering the possibility of linking the incident to the implementation of a new artificial intelligence system by the FAA, which detects problems and suggests changes to aircraft routes. However, the system operates from a facility near Washington and sends recommendations to control centers.
The US government has launched a program to modernize the old technological air traffic infrastructure, after approving a $12.5 billion budget. from Congress. As part of the project, old copper cables are being replaced by optical fibers and radio systems at airports are being upgraded.
However, according to Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, another 30 billion euros are needed. dollars to complete the modernization, while the White House has begun to pressure Congress to approve additional funding.
Aviation security expert Steve Arroyo compared the incident to a communications outage that had occurred in September and had affected hundreds of flights in the northeast of the country, pointing out that this time the problem had a nationwide scope.
As he explained, the inability to communicate between controllers and aircraft makes it necessary to ground flights in order not to endanger the safety of passengers. He clarified, however, that Friday's suspension differed from the one that followed the September 11 attacks, as it was then that the aircraft had been ordered to land immediately.
