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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday that U.S. air traffic is slowly returning to normal and that “it is safe to fly,” as airlines work to recover from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. The shutdown canceled more than 2,500 flights and stranded passengers.
Planes are pushing back from gates, taxiing and taking off again, Duffy said in a post on X. He cautioned that travelers should still expect delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition aircraft and crews where they are needed most.
Duffy said the department was in close coordination with airlines to support the recovery. He described the top priority as getting travelers home safely to their families as quickly as possible.
He also thanked air traffic controllers, pilots and flight crews who have been working around the clock, saying the nation thanks them for their professionalism and dedication to the flying public.
The U.S. Department of Transportation planned a press briefing at 10:30 a.m. ET at its headquarters to share additional updates. Duffy urged passengers to check flight status directly with their airlines and to consult the Federal Aviation Administration’s airport status page for real-time information.
Officials said the effects could be felt for days, but they expect the system to return to normal in time to handle the Thanksgiving travel rush, one of the busiest periods of the year for U.S. air travel.
Trump administration officials said new technology being added to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment. The overload caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, which led to a flight shutdown of more than four hours.
Nationwide ground stops are rare. Friday’s was the first since January 2023, when the failure of an FAA computer system that sends notices to pilots halted departures. It was only the second since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant and managing director of Aviation Advocacy, said to Associated Press that the stoppage affected about a quarter of the roughly 45,000 flights operating in the United States each day.
Charlton said the disruption multiplies quickly because aircraft rarely make a single round trip. A plane scheduled to fly from one city to another typically continues on to a series of other airports, so a delay at one point cascades through the rest of its day. He said the problem is worse for long-haul and international flights across the Atlantic and the Pacific. “The knock-on effect of that is incredible,” he said.
At airports across the country, passengers watched departure screens fill with delays or rushed to find buses and trains to reach their destinations. Professional and college sports teams also had to scramble for alternate transportation.
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