When the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for all flights shortly before 4 p.m. Eastern on Friday, the skies emptied of planes. The maps below show the pattern of aircraft coming in to land at each airport over the next few hours. Times for each map are local for that airport.
Thousands of travelers were stranded for hours across the country. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest airport in the country, lines of passengers waiting to retrieve checked bags wrapped around three different airport entrances. In Los Angeles, professional sports teams were stuck on planes waiting to take off for matches this weekend.
More than 3,500 planes were in the air when the ground stop was issued, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The nationwide ground stop, which Mr. Duffy said came after aging radar and communications equipment became overloaded, was canceled just over four hours after it was announced, making it the longest nationwide air ban since Sept. 11, 2001. Travel delays will likely linger for days. Over 6,600 flights were canceled by 9:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday, and 1,500 flights scheduled for Saturday were canceled as well.
Source: www.nytimes.com
