Thousands of flights to and from US airports were cancelled or delayed on Saturday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a ground stop, with UK airports including Manchester and Heathrow affected.
The FAA said the step was taken due to "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety". In a statement, the agency said: "The safety of the flying public is always the FAA’s highest priority. The FAA lifted the ground stop and some flight departures are resuming. Before clearing flights to resume, we thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable. Passengers should contact their airlines for flight updates."
UK airports affected
Manchester Airport warned that three US-bound Virgin Atlantic flights scheduled to leave on Saturday morning were likely to be affected. Gatwick was understood to be facing minimal impact. Heathrow was the only UK airport with confirmed cancellations and delays, with Manchester also expecting issues. Updates from other UK airports were awaited.
In the early hours of Saturday, the FAA began gradually lifting restrictions as systems came back online, with some flights receiving clearance to depart for overseas destinations, including Germany and Prague.
Scale of disruption
According to FlightAware, a total of 3,530 flights were delayed and 2,352 flights were cancelled. Within, into, or out of the United States, there were 330 delays and 2,144 cancellations.
Among airlines, Delta Air Lines recorded the most cancellations with 404, followed by JetBlue with 332, United Airlines with 257, American Airlines with 190, Republic Airways with 105, Southwest Airlines with 95, PSA Airlines with 91, Envoy Air with 87, SkyWest with 85, and Endeavor Air with 81. JetBlue had a particularly high cancellation rate, with 40% of its flights cancelled.
For delays, China Eastern led with 190, followed by Air China with 96, Delta with 76, United with 43, American with 33, Southwest with 30, Shenzhen Airlines with 66, Saudia with 19, and Tianjin Airlines with 18.
Airport delays
Among airports, Frankfurt/Main recorded the most delays with 58, followed by John F Kennedy International with 39, Dallas-Fort Worth International with 38, Heathrow with 35, Orlando International with 15, Hartsfield-Jackson International with 12, Reagan National with 8, and Miami International with 6.
Passengers were advised to contact their airlines for flight updates as operations continued to resume.
