A nationwide ground stop imposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday brought air traffic across the United States to a halt, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded or facing lengthy delays.
A striking comparison shared by flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 shows the scale of the disruption. Its visualisation contrasts normal Friday night air traffic from the previous week with the skies over the United States during Friday's ground stop, highlighting the dramatic reduction in aircraft movements.
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The FAA issued the nationwide ground stop at 20:54 UTC on November 13, preventing aircraft from taking off for more than four hours. The restriction was lifted at around 8.15pm Eastern Time, allowing flights to gradually resume.
The disruption marked the longest nationwide flight stoppage in 25 years and affected domestic and international services, with knock-on consequences for passengers travelling to and from the United States.
Thousands of flights cancelled
The scale of the disruption continued to emerge as airlines worked to restore their schedules.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said 12,000 flights were cancelled on Friday. He warned that between 4,000 and 5,000 of the approximately 41,000 flights scheduled for Saturday could also be cancelled.