U.S. Flight Grounding Crisis Continues... 4,100 Flights Canceled on the 14th

[Financial News] The fallout from the large-scale nationwide halt to takeoffs in the United States continues. On Friday the 13th (local time), when air travel demand surges, takeoffs were completely halted for about 4 hours and 30 minutes that afternoon, throwing airports across the country into chaos. The impact continued on the 14th, triggering a cascade of flight cancellations and delays.
According to flight-tracking site FlightAware, about 4,100 flights in the United States had been canceled as of 11:05 a.m. on the 14th. Reuters reported that more than 4,000 U.S. flights were canceled that day and about 3,000 were delayed, disrupting more than 7,000 flights in total.
The cancellation rate for scheduled flights at major U.S. airlines, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines, was found to be about 20%. Low-cost carrier JetBlue canceled around 40% of its flights.
According to data compiled on the 13th by aviation data firm Cirium, about 8,200 flights—31% of the total—were canceled. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 of the roughly 41,000 flights scheduled for that day were likely to be canceled. He forecast that airline schedules would return to normal by the close of business on the 15th. However, congestion in repositioning aircraft and crews is expected to mean that full normalization will take longer.
U.S. airlines told passengers that delays and cancellations could continue as aircraft and crews were repositioned. Some airlines also waived fees for changing or canceling flights.
The fallout from the large-scale halt to takeoffs also affected international flights. Delays to U.S.-bound flights were reported at some European airports. Air cargo operations were also disrupted.
Many passengers were also spotted spending the night lying on airport floors at major hub airports, including New York's JFK and LaGuardia, as well as those in Chicago, Los Angeles (LA) and Atlanta. Passengers crowded onto alternative forms of transportation, causing congestion at rental car companies and elsewhere.
Games were also postponed when athletes, including American football players, were unable to fly. Auburn and Purdue, among others, traveled by bus to the states of Mississippi and Iowa, respectively. The game between Utah State and the University of Arizona was delayed by three hours, while the University of Mississippi football team could not secure transportation to Norman, Oklahoma, so its game was postponed until the 15th.
According to the Associated Press (AP), this is the longest suspension of flight operations in the 25 years since the September 11, 2001, attacks. A nationwide suspension of flight operations also occurred in January 2023 after an FAA computer system failure, but it was much shorter.
U.S. authorities believe the incident was caused by an overload that occurred during the replacement of the air traffic control communications network's copper wiring with fiber optics. They say it was not related to terrorism or artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The New York Times (NYT) noted of the incident, “It starkly exposed the chronic vulnerabilities of the FAA’s aging air traffic control infrastructure, which has suffered repeated disruptions in recent months.”
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter