US Domestic Flights Resume After Telecom Disruption

Domestic flights across the United States have resumed after being grounded for several hours due to a telecommunications system failure. However, despite the lifting of the temporary restrictions, it may take more time for flight schedules to return to normal, raising concerns that passengers will continue to face disruption.

The information was reported by CNN.

Federal officials had imposed a nationwide temporary flight restriction, known as a ground stop, citing safety concerns. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed outdated air traffic control technology and an overloaded router system for the disruption.

Duffy warned that similar incidents could occur in the future unless the country's air traffic control system is modernised. He urged Congress to allocate the necessary funding for the upgrades.

He said it would take some time for flight operations to return fully to normal. However, he does not expect the disruption to affect passenger travel during the Thanksgiving holiday in a few weeks.

US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no security threat against the country behind the decision to impose the ground stop. He also said the disruption was not connected to the Microsoft service outage earlier this week.

According to estimates by aviation data analytics firm Cirium, around 1.5 million passengers were affected by flight cancellations and operational disruptions. While aircraft already in the air were allowed to land during the ground stop, new departures were suspended for more than four hours. As a result, US airspace became almost empty.

Although domestic flights have been cleared to resume following the lifting of the restrictions, delays and scheduling disruptions may take additional time to resolve.