Air travel issues to persist well into Sunday, officials say, with thousands of flights affected

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The head of the FAA predicted that US air travel would not return to normal schedules until late Sunday as the aviation system gradually recovers from a nationwide flight shutdown that officials blamed on routine maintenance gone awry.

WASHINGTON - The head of the FAA predicted that US air travel would not return to normal schedules until late Sunday as the aviation system gradually recovers from a nationwide flight shutdown that officials blamed on routine maintenance gone awry.

As of 6:45 pm ET (23:45 GMT), airlines on Saturday had canceled more than 6,150 US flights and delayed more than 7,300, according to FlightAware, an aviation website. That followed about 9,200 flights canceled and 7,500 delayed on Friday after the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop because of disruptions to air traffic communications. FlightAware said more than 530 flights scheduled for Sunday were already canceled.

Federal Aviation Administration head Bryan Bedford said on Saturday that he expected airline operations to largely return to normal by late Sunday. He also apologized for the disruption, adding that the system remains stable.

The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday that halted nearly all departing flights for almost five hours. It was the longest nationwide halt to air travel since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and one of the single worst US travel days ever.

The issue prompted the White House to convene an emergency meeting in the Situation Room on Friday and federal agencies to scramble to determine if it was a cyberattack. But the problem was traced to FAA contractor L3Harris' installation of at least one new router at a remote facility, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday.

"We're working to determine whether we had incompetence, meaning was it user error or installer error from L3Harris, or did they install a faulty router? We haven't determined what the fault was," Duffy told reporters at a news conference.

L3Harris said it took the issue seriously and is supporting the FAA in its investigation. Its shares last traded down about 4% after hours on Friday.

Duffy said the trouble began on Friday afternoon, when air traffic control centers experienced instability in radar and…

"We…

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