Air travel issues to persist well into Sunday, officials say, with thousands of flights affected
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 4:15 pm ET (2115 GMT), airlines on Saturday had canceled more than 5,300 US flights and delayed almost 6,300, 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. 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 co
