Nationwide ground stop affecting Philadelphia International Airport ends; delays, cancellations expected

The nationwide ground stop at airports across the United States, including Philadelphia International Airport, was lifted Friday night after travel was halted for hours, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The Details

Ripple effects of the ground stop are continuing Saturday, however, with delays and cancellations piling up at airports around the nation.

Friday, the FAA issued the ground stop due to "extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons."

"At 8:15 tonight, Eastern time, we've opened up the airspace," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a news briefing Friday night. "Now does that mean every flight is going to fly right now? It's going to be slow. So if you're watching, you're at an airport, check with your airline."

Duffy blamed the ground stop on outdated air traffic control technology and routers overloaded by data.

"Our routers actually got overloaded with data and … they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers," Duffy said. "And because of that, we shut the system down."

Multiple sources tell CBS News that an update to the private communications network connecting the nation's air traffic control caused the system to reboot, which led to a crash and communications outage. L3Harris, the company that operates the system, has not immediately responded to CBS News' request for comment.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters outside the White House that there wasn't any indication yet that "this was a nefarious act against us. It was just a telecommunication outage, as of right now."

"I want to make sure everybody understands that there is no connection between this and Microsoft," Mullin said during the news briefing with Duffy. "I know a lot of people are making that jump. This is so far what we've seen. There is actually no cyberattack. We're still working through that process."

As of 11:45 p.m. Friday, data from FlightAware showed a total of 208 delays at Philadelphia International Airport and 229 cancellations.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, FlightAware showed 36 delays and over 100 cancellations among flights tied to PHL.

The ground stop also impacted Amtrak services. On social media, Amtrak said it's receiving "higher-than-normal call volumes due to ongoing airline issues."

Nationwide ground stop ripple effects continue Saturday

Saturday morning, many travelers who were caught in the ground stop still hadn't reached their destination, whether it was home or vacation.

Jonas Cooper, of Queens, New York, drove down to Philadelphia International Airport to catch a flight to Orlando on Friday night.

Then the ground stop happened, and he was eventually rebooked onto a flight set to leave at 5 a.m. Saturday.

"And then the flight left at 3 a.m., so everything is just crazy," Cooper said.

He was later rebooked onto a flight leaving at 5 a.m. Sunday. Now he's planning to spend the day sightseeing in Philadelphia and be back in time for his rebooked flight.

Marcos Medros was stranded in PHL while trying to get home to Las Vegas. He recently completed a 30-day military training and had two flights canceled already.

"I was actually here in the airport when they announced the grounding of all flights. I was actually deplaned, so I was on the plane about to leave. Terrible," Medros said.

Travelers caught in nationwide ground stop

Joe Paul started his day waiting for a flight in Syracuse, New York, but his flight was delayed for 3.5 hours, so Delta sent him to catch a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, from PHL.

However, when he arrived, the news about the ground stop broke.

Paul said he was concerned, and his family reached out to him because of his medical issues, but he's taking the high road.

"I'd much rather be stuck in Philadelphia than Syracuse, New York," Paul said.

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At Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Brynn Howard and her 2-year-old daughter were traveling to Savannah, Georgia, but their trip was halted due to the ground stop.

Howard said TSA agents at the airport have been "super helpful" as they wait for their flight, but it's also been frustrating.

"It's definitely put a little damper on our plans," Howard said.

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Aviation expert discusses nationwide ground stop

Arthur Wolk, an aviation expert and pilot, said he thought the cause might be a computer hack when he first heard the news.

"The air traffic control system is computer-based. Everything about it works through a computer system, so if that system fails one way or another, the system is affected to such an extent that you can have sorts of air traffic difficulties," Wolk said. "Delays, difficulties getting clearances, difficulties communicating, things of that nature. So that surprises me that the government hasn't indicated a computer hacking issue."

Faris Tanyos contributed to this report.