Disruption for transatlantic passengers in the UK has begun to ease following air traffic control difficulties that brought flights to a complete halt across the United States.
FAA grounds all US flights
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights nationwide on Friday "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety" after communications failures at regional air traffic control centres.
US airspace was reopened on Friday evening after four hours, however American officials warned that recovery would be gradual, with tens of thousands of passengers stranded and analysts predicting disruption could persist for several days.
Nearly 10,000 flights were cancelled according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
Impact on UK airports
By Saturday morning, the knock-on impact in the UK was largely confined to delays on certain flights operated by US carriers.
The 9.55am American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, the 11.50am American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas, and the 11.55am American Airlines flight to Los Angeles, California, were amongst those displaying as cancelled on departure boards at Heathrow airport.
British Airways confirmed its flights were running as normal, having previously apologised for potential delays and cancellations.
Manchester Airport stated that significant delays on Saturday were not anticipated, and it is understood the situation had minimal impact on London Gatwick Airport.
Official guidance and response
Tim Johnson, consumer director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: "While US flights have resumed, there may be some follow-on disruption as airlines work to re-book affected passengers and get all services back to normal."
"Anyone due to travel on flights between the UK and USA should check with their airline for the latest information before heading to the airport. We know that UK airlines are doing all they can to minimise inconvenience and to make sure their customers are properly looked after."
A British Airways spokesman said: "Whilst this matter was entirely outside of our control, we want to thank our customers for bearing with us, and our colleagues for supporting them and helping to minimise any disruption."
Ireland's Department of Transport urged all US-bound passengers to check with their airline for the latest updates.
Cause and outlook
It marks only the second occasion that flights have been grounded across the US since the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. Flights were previously halted by the FAA in January 2023 due to a system error.
US homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that the introduction of new technology into an ageing air traffic control system had overwhelmed it. Mr Mullin added "it doesn't appear" that a cyber attack or rogue artificial intelligence played a role in the incident.
American transportation secretary Sean Duffy stated he expected flights across the US to be "back up and operational as we come into the heat of travel" next weekend ahead of the American Thanksgiving holiday, though he hinted that further disruptions could not be ruled out. "We didn't think we would have this kind of outage. We did," he said. "We were able to review what went wrong, and then reboot the system and go. But, you will have more of these."
