What the US air traffic shutdown means for UK travellers flying to America

Passengers flying between the UK and the US face cancellations and delays after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded flights across the United States on Friday, according to the Evening Standard and the Mirror. The UK Civil Aviation Authority has warned of “follow-on disruption” as airlines re-book affected travellers.

The FAA said it acted “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” after a communication issue at air route traffic control centres. Reports differ on how long the shutdown lasted: the Evening Standard said about four hours, the Mirror about five.

What it means for UK travellers today

Cancelled services included American Airlines, United, Delta and British Airways flights to and from cities such as New York, Dallas, Houston and Chicago. At Gatwick, three arrivals from Orlando were cancelled.

The Mirror reported delays at Edinburgh Airport. Manchester Airport said it expected no significant delays, with three Virgin Atlantic flights to New York, Orlando and Atlanta due to arrive with slight delays.

Tim Johnson of the Civil Aviation Authority said anyone travelling between the UK and the US should check with their airline before heading to the airport. British Airways said flights leaving the US may be delayed and that customers should travel to the airport as planned. Virgin Atlantic said it was monitoring the situation.

How big the disruption is

Nearly 10,000 flights to and from US airports have been cancelled through Saturday, according to Flightradar24, as reported by the Mirror. It said Delta and American have each cancelled more than 2,200 flights, United 1,800 and Southwest nearly 1,400.

Late on Friday, Eurocontrol said all US-bound traffic from its 42 member states, including the UK, was suspended between 2200 UTC on 13 November and 0500 UTC on 14 November at the FAA's request.

What caused it

US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the order followed a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The Mirror reported he said routers became overloaded with data and gave inconsistent readings, and blamed an incredibly old system. Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin said new technology added to the old system overwhelmed it. He said it does not appear a cyber attack or rogue artificial intelligence was involved, but he could not rule out another outage.

The Mirror noted that the problem came three days after an AI-supported system called Strategic Management of Airspace, or SMART, was introduced at 22 centres. It brings together around 200 data streams. A Washington Examiner reporter said on CNN that air traffic controllers she had spoken to did not accept the government's explanation, arguing such switches are normally made overnight midweek.

What happens next

Duffy said disruption would continue for a number of days, though he expected flights to be back up and operating by next weekend, ahead of Thanksgiving. He also warned: “you will have more of these.” Passengers are advised to check their flight status with their airline.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Evening Standard, Mirror

Cover photo: Adrian Pingstone / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Share: Telegram WhatsApp