NEW YORK (WABC)– Thousands of travelers in the New York area are grappling with the effects of a nationwide shutdown, with nearly 2,000 flights canceled across the country on Saturday.
Disruptions are being felt across the region at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, as passengers face delays, cancellations and uncertain travel plans. Officials hope operations will return to normal before the busy Thanksgiving travel period begins.
Marcus Solis reports from Newark Liberty International Airport.
Airlines continue to face logistical challenges created by Friday’s disruptions. Planes were left out of position across the country and some flight attendants reached their authorized duty limits, forcing carriers to reassign crews and equipment before flights could resume their normal schedules.
15% of flights were canceled from Newark on Saturday, 21% from LaGuardia and 21% from JFK Airport. There were dozens of delays at all three airports.
Travelers await answers
On Friday evening at LaGuardia, one of the nation’s busiest transportation hubs, only a handful of international flights were arriving after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all flights to stop taking off.
Around 4:30 p.m., video from the airport showed planes on the runway. About 30 minutes later, a dozen planes were stopped as pilots were ordered to return to their gates.
“No one is allowed to leave the ground. If you are on the ground, please return to the gate immediately,” they told the pilots.
Even after flights resumed, some travelers remained stranded or struggled to adjust their plans.
A passenger trying to reach Belize said the disruption left him frustrated after missing his flight.
“Unfortunately we didn’t make it over our flight…hopefully we can get home,” he said.
What caused the ground stop?
Aaron Katersky has the details.
The FAA said it ordered a nationwide ground check “due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons.”
said Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford during a press conference Saturday.
“We see no evidence of anything nefarious, and no evidence of anything related to AI. So we want to be clear that we have an equipment issue and we’re looking to determine what that faulty piece of equipment was,” Bedford said.
“When we complete the root cause analysis, we will share it with you,” Bedford said.
He predicted that the air travel schedule would be fully restored by Sunday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA does not believe the communications failure that led to a nationwide ground shutdown Friday was the result of a cyberattack.
“At at least one of our remote FAA sites, a contractor was doing routine maintenance to replace old copper cables with telecommunications lines, and he was upgrading them to fiber optics,” Duffy said during a news conference Saturday.
Duffy said this shift from copper to fiber has been happening in the United States for decades, saying virtually every American institution has moved from copper to fiber, from analog to digital.
“Either due to contractor error or faulty equipment, this router that was being replaced as we moved from copper to fiber, began to flood other routers in our air traffic control system. Specifically, we had over 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, which caused us to have problems communicating with the aircraft, and it also caused disruptions with our radar feeds,” Duffy said.
When that happened, the airspace was closed for safety reasons, Duffy said.
“Once we were able to isolate the work being done at that remote location, all of our systems came back online, so we don’t believe it was a cyber attack at all. It was an FAA system that was unresponsive, unresponsive at that time,” Duffy said.
Hochul calls on Duffy to resign
New York Governor Kathy Hochul released a statement saying, “American airspace shut down yesterday, leaving thousands of flights canceled and travelers stranded across the country. More than 3,500 planes were already in the air due to the failure of radar and communications systems. We are fortunate that no lives were lost.
“From chronic shortages of air traffic controllers to repeated communications failures, serious failures in our aviation system have become a trend under Sean Duffy’s watch.
“Through it all, he was more focused on his role on his own reality show than the crisis at his agency.
“As millions of Americans prepare to travel for the holidays, families deserve answers and have confidence in the safety of our skies. Congress must launch a thorough investigation to determine what went wrong and ensure it never happens again.
“Sean Duffy must resign, or President Trump must impeach him immediately.”
Airlines issue travel waivers
Katy Nastro of Flighty.com explains.
Major airlines granted travel waivers to affected passengers this weekend.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are waiving change fees through Saturday, with United also waiving fare differences. Southwest Airlines is allowing passengers to change their reservations at no additional cost until Monday.
Travelers are encouraged to check directly with their airline and review the status of their itinerary before heading to the airport, as carriers continue to work to minimize delays and cancellations.
Historical significance
This is the first nationwide ground shutdown since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed.
Before that, the last nationwide ground stop occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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