Airport chaos continues after US ground stop lifted - as it happened

Key Points:

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon due to a communications failure at air traffic control centers, leading to over 6,600 flight cancellations and 8,600 delays, marking the longest shutdown since 9/11.
• The ground stop was lifted at 8:15 pm Eastern Time, but airlines including American, United, Southwest, and Delta warned that flight operations would resume gradually, with full recovery expected to take several days.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the immediate technical issue was resolved and flying was safe but emphasized the need for a $50 billion modernization of the aging air traffic control system to prevent future outages, blaming Congress for underfunding.
• The disruption affected international flights as well, with US-bound departures from European airports suspended until 5 am UTC Saturday, and US-bound flights from Sydney, Australia, held on the tarmac for hours before clearance.
• This incident was only the second nationwide ground stop since 9/11, with no evidence of a cyber-attack, and is believed to have been caused by older technology being overwhelmed after new FAA systems were introduced.