Thousands of passengers flying to and from UK airports faced major disruptions and travel chaos after a rare nationwide ground stop was issued in the US.
asserted
stop → fly → US
The US's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had halted all flights nationwide 'due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety'.
asserted
Administration → halt → safety
Now US aviation regulators have lifted the ground stop of all flights across the country after several hours down on Friday following the major communications outage.
asserted
regulators → lift → outage
It is unclear what the knock on effect will be for UK passengers travelling today.
uncertain
knock → travel → passengers
Just minutes after the announcement, the impact hit Britain's biggest airport, where Heathrow was last night a scene of 'real confusion'.
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Heathrow → hit → confusion
At around 11pm, a flight which had been due to leave for New York from Heathrow returned to the airport after a medical emergency in the air.
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which → leave → air
British Airways flight BA-113 departed Heathrow at 5pm and was routing to JFK Airport in New York at the time.
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flight → depart → time
One passenger, who gave his name as Richard, said: 'We were on the flight to New York and we were told there was a medical emergency.
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we → give → York
They stopped in Shannon.
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They → stop → Shannon
Then news started to come in about the flights in America being grounded.
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flights → start → America
Moment British Airways flight suffers double tail strike in aborted landing at Heathrow Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted flight departures across the US following a major communications failure.
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Administration → suffer → failure
Flyers were seen waiting at New York's JFK International Airport during the nationwide ground
'
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Flyers → see → ground
I saw a notification on Bloomberg about the situation in the US, and I showed it to the flight attendant.
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I → see → attendant
She hadn't heard anything about it.
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She → hear → it
Originally, we thought we were staying in Ireland.
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we → think → Ireland
Then they said we're coming back to Britain.
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we → say → Britain
Now we're in Britain, we don't know how we will get back.'
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we → know → Britain
Another passenger said: 'I need to go back to America urgently.
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I → say → America
That's why I got the flight on a Friday evening.
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I → get → evening
Now I have no idea how I will get back.
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I → have → idea
It's going to be carnage.
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It → go → ?
Responding to customers on X, British Airways apologised for delays to its flights, and recommended passengers travel to the airport as planned to arrive for the original departure time.
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passengers → respond → time
It told one X user that it will operate flights due to take off tomorrow, but added it is monitoring the situation and 'can't guarantee that this won't change'.
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this → tell → situation
It is understood the situation had minimal impact on London Gatwick Airport.
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situation → understand → Airport
The FAA previously said: 'There has been a temporary telecommunications outage - out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted.
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flights → say → caution
Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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flights → account → basis
It added that it gave airlines up to four hours to file flight plans because of the communications failure affecting air traffic control centres.
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it → add → centres
More than 15,000 flights were delayed and another 1,700 were cancelled as of Friday 6pm, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking service.
uncertain
1,700 → delay → FlightAware
In the UK, more than 4,000 had been cancelled or were classified as 'no-fly' according to Cirium.
uncertain
4,000 → cancel → Cirium
Air traffic control radar systems and radio frequencies went down simultaneously in multiple locations across the country, an aviation source familiar with the situation told CNN.
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source → go → CNN
Controllers remain in the dark about what caused the failures and the full extent of the disruption, the source added.
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source → remain → disruption
Another airline source told CNN that the FAA 'doesn't know yet what is going on.
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what → tell → CNN
It is affecting different facilities in different ways.
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It → affect → ways
'Ten minutes ago, they were on a crisis call, and there was still no clear answer as to the cause.
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they → be → cause
Three US-bound flights scheduled to leave on Saturday morning – all operated by Virgin Atlantic – would have been affected had the issue not been resolved.
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issue → bind → Atlantic
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: 'We're aware of the ground stop order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for all US airports.
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We → say → airports
'We're closely monitoring the situation and assessing any impact to our flights.
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We → monitor → flights
We advise any customers due to travel to check their flight status at virginatlantic.com.
asserted
We → advise → virginatlantic.com
The FAA has ordered all departing traffic in the US to remain on the ground until further notice
A British Airways spokesman said: 'Our flights departing the United States may be delayed due to the ongoing air traffic control issue.
uncertain
flights → order → issue
'Customers are advised to travel to the airport as planned so we can try to depart our aircraft as quickly as possible.
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we → advise → aircraft
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
