Airports devolved into scenes of chaos early Friday after ground stops were issued because of a massive IT outage felt across the globe.
Long lines, crowded gates and agitated passengers became common scenes at major airports. At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Los Angeles International Airport, monitors usually displaying flight departure times were replaced with malfunctioning blue screens.
More than 7,300 flights were delayed within, to or out of the United States as of 2:30 p.m. ET, and over 2,400 were canceled, according to FlightAware data. Globally, there have been over 34,000 delays and more than 3,800 cancellations, according to the tracker.
In the U.S., the airports experiencing the greatest cancellations and delays are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, New York’s LaGuardia, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, followed by Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to FlightAware data based on origin airport.
Situation on the ground at U.S. airports
- U.S. delays: Over 7,300
- U.S. cancellations: Over 2,400
- Origin airports with most cancellations/delays: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, NYC’s LaGuardia Airport, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
- Airports with long average ground delays, according to the FAA: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (174 minutes), NYC’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (171 minutes), NYC’s LaGuardia Airport (129 minutes).
- All numbers as of 2:30 p.m. ET
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, the biggest carriers in the U.S., all issued ground stops early Friday.
Delta said in a statement, “All Delta flights are paused as we work through a vendor technology issue,” and by 8 a.m. said it “has resumed some flight…
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