U.S. airlines expected 4,000 to 5,000 flight cancellations Saturday as carriers shifted aircraft and crews to rebuild schedules after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted departures nationwide Friday.
At a joint news conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said airlines expected the cancellations among roughly 41,000 flights scheduled Saturday. Bedford described the air traffic control system as stable. “This morning, the system remains stable, and our airline partners are working through the operational recovery,” he said.
The expected cancellations reflected carriers’ effort to match aircraft and crews with flights as schedules resumed. The Department of Transportation (DOT) said intermittent telecommunications failures affected communications and radar operations used by air traffic controllers. The FAA ended its nationwide departure pause at 8:15 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 13, following the disruption covered in the earlier EconoTimes report on the restart.
At the news conference, Duffy said the outage appeared connected to maintenance replacing aging copper telecom lines with fiber. Officials were investigating the cause, making the explanation preliminary. Anadolu reported that Bedford expected airlines to restore full schedules by close of business Sunday.
