US ground stop lifted after FAA order halted air traffic and left thousands waiting at airports

Airlinesindependent.co.uk14 Nov

US ground stop lifted after FAA order halted air traffic and left thousands waiting at airports

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After hours of airport chaos, confused passengers and little information, federal officials ended a ground stop order that halted planes across the U.S.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued the order around 4 p.m. Friday “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Around 8:30 p.m. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the order was lifted, though he said it would take a while for the skies to return to normal.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no evidence of a cyberattack, but the root cause remained under investigation.

Duffy pinned the blame on an outdated air traffic control system and described the problem as a network that got “overloaded with data.”

Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled, leaving passengers waiting at airports. Photos from nearly every city showed packed hallways and lines with passengers searching for any information about when they might be able to travel.

According to FlightAware, more than 9,000 flights were delayed Friday. However, some could have been for weather or other issues before the order was issued.

“There was never any lives at risk,” Mullin said. “There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it out of an abundance of caution.”

He added that he understood internet conspiracy theories, but there was no indication of something larger at play. He later admitted that as of late Friday there was “nothing completely certain.”

During a White House briefing late Friday, Duffy blamed the nation’s aging air traffic system for the outage. He said the nation relies on an analog system and it got overloaded with data — which Mullin said came from new technology overwhelming the older system.

“We have old switches, old routers. It's an old system that went down and went down everywhere. It got overloaded. I don't want to rule out that we didn't have nefarious activity here,” Duffy said.

Reporters pressed the Trump administration officials on what caused the overload, but neither offered specifics. They also could not explain why the system failed on Friday rather than on any other day.

Duffy used the briefing to rant about Congress and called for more funds to replace the nation’s aging infrastructure. He demanded for $50 billion — up from the $30 billion Trump asked from Congress — to update the nation’s air traffic system.

“Let’s not do a patchwork fix to a system that’s critical for every single family,” Duffy said. “This is a continual problem that we have, and it should be fixed.”

The FAA ground stop order caused problems for passengers nationwide during the five hours it remained in place. College football teams couldn't travel ahead of Saturday games. That led some programs to find alternative ways to travel before kickoff.

For those that waited, Duffy encouraged them to contact officials about their travel plans.

“I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA, to schedule their flight times and make sure they can move” their start time, Duffy said.

Passengers at airports were left waiting for information about when they might be allowed to travel to their destination.

In Atlanta, Ashley Aylward told local outlet WSB-TV that she was on the runway when she got word of the order.

“It brought me back to 9/11. I was definitely nervous, but, I mean, we’re still here. We’re still sitting on the runway and still no word on what’s going on and if we were going back to the gate,” Aylward told the station.

In Boston, Dara Albrecht told The Boston Globe she was on a Dallas-bound flight when passengers were given the option to disembark or wait it out and hope for an eventual takeoff. She said many passengers thought they were in danger and rushed to leave.

After she left the plane, the airport was packed and rideshare lines wrapped around the outside of the terminal. She described it as a “madhouse” as she left and rebooked a flight for Saturday morning.

“I was just glad to get out of the airport,” she told the Globe. “When you got into the terminal it is apocalyptic.”

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Airlinesthepointsguy.com13 Nov

Nationwide ground stop lifted, but flight cancellations still mounting

The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a nationwide ground stop, allowing flights across the U.S. to resume after halting takeoffs for several hours Friday evening.

But travelers will face significant disruptions through the weekend as airlines unwind one of the most significant disruptions to air travel in decades.

At 8:15pm EST, the FAA began allowing flights to operate, the Trump administration said. It came after a four-hour ground stop that stranded flyers at airports across the country.

Most departing flights in the U.S.were grounded indefinitely late Friday afternoon after the FAA reported communication issues impacting air traffic control centers.

The fallout for travelers was severe, affecting thousands of flights — a meltdown that was likely to cascade across multiple days.

More than 6,000 departures had been canceled as of 8:45 p.m. Friday evening, according to FlightAware. At least 1,400 departures for Saturday had been scrapped.

That number is likely to rise sharply as airlines work to get operations back on track.

“It’s going to take us some time to unwind what’s happened," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference Friday evening.

Friday's communications outage occurred during an upgrade to FAA technology, officials said.

The disruption marked only the second time since 9/11 that a ground stop affecting the entire nation had been issued

Airlines issued travel advisories in the midst of the travel chaos. These waivers typically allow passengers with flights booked more flexibility to change their itineraries:

Some departures continued, despite the wide-ranging ground stop.

In a social media post, United Airlines said international departures were being managed on a case-by-case basis, the carrier reported.

Alaska Air Group, which owns Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, said flights within the state of Alaska were still cleared to operate. Neighbor island service in Hawaii was also unaffected. Departures from the West Coast to Hawaii were also continuing, a spokesperson said.

Passengers whose flights are canceled or significantly delayed are entitled to a refund if they choose not to travel or accept a rebooked flight, regardless of the reason for the disruption.

Under Department of Transportation rules, a significant delay generally means arriving at your final destination at least three hours late on a domestic itinerary or six hours late on an international itinerary. For passengers who decide to not travel on those flights, airlines must provide refunds to the original form of payment, not just travel credits.

In large-scale travel disruptions like this, rental cars and hotel rooms at or near airports can book up quickly, so it can make sense to act fast if you want to secure a backup option.

If you have airline miles you can use to book a flight for tomorrow, that can also be a good self-insurance policy in case the disruption isn't resolved quickly. Just make sure you understand the cancellation and refund rules before booking a backup ticket.

And while many rewards credit cards offer built-in trip delay or cancellation protection if you used them to book your original airline tickets, it's not guaranteed that those benefits will cover FAA groundings of this nature. Still, save your receipts for any unexpected expenses in case you're eligible for reimbursement.

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Airlinessimpleflying.com14 Nov

What Pilots Actually Do Hour-By-Hour On An 18-Hour Flight To New York JFK

SQ23/SQ24, Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900ULR flights between Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), are a technological and logistical marvel. They cover an average of 9,537 miles (15,348 km), requiring the aircraft to remain in the sky for 18 to 19 hours. The world's longest flight also requires the personnel crewing it to remain sharp throughout.

Unsurprisingly, such a long flight time well exceeds the legal limits for a two-person flight crew. The flight crew is bolstered to four members, allowing each crew member to use the crew bunk for a four-hour-long and a 2.5-hour-long rest period. These crew members aren't just sticking the A350-900ULR on autopilot and relaxing. It is essential that they are well rested because they have essential duties to carry out while the aircraft is in flight.

In response to the rapidly approaching launch of Project Sunrise, Qantas' Airbus A350-1000ULR flights from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Sydney (SYD), Pilot Nick from Lessons from the Flight Deck gave his reflections on what it's like to fly for such extended periods. He said that:

"The metabolic cost is the constant vigilance. You’re monitoring six fuel tanks, four engine indicators, weather radar, traffic radar, ATC frequencies in three regions, oceanic crossing procedures, alternate airport availability over the next 1,500 miles, and the dozen subtle ways the airplane talks to you."

The table below is an impression of what pilots will do hour-by-hour on the Singapore to New York flight based on each crew member having a four-hour and a 2.5-hour rest allowance. This is an estimation based on an 18.5-hour flight time. It is clear that ultra-long-haul crew do far more than put the autopilot on and watch the world go by. They also do all of these duties in an environment where the air is thinner, and they are steadily dehydrated.

Departure from Singapore. This is a high-workload period, with potential assistance from the reserve crew. It is standard ultra-long-haul procedure to have all four crew members in the cockpit for takeoff and landing.

Initial cruising period with regular route, fuel, and weather checks, along with communication with air traffic control. The reserve crew may rest during this period.

Reserve crew returns from rest and takes over for the middle cruise. They'll receive a briefing from the primary crew on anything that they need to be made aware of. The primary captain and first officer may take a rest period.

The first crew returns, allowing the reserve crew to go for their long rest. This is a period of deep cruise, where remote Pacific airspace is crossed.

The reserve crew returns from rest, allowing the primary flight crew to go for their long period of rest. The reserve crew begins to prepare for arrival, with frequent air traffic control communications as they approach and enter US airspace.

The primary crew returns and receives a handover. The approach to New York begins. This is another high-workload period, with the crew having to navigate New York's exceptionally busy airspace before landing and taxiing to the gate.

One of the main activities that a pilot will be doing aboard Singapore Airlines' flight from Singapore to New York is resting, with each getting almost seven hours away from the flight deck. According to Executive Traveller, A350s come with two upstairs rest areas for pilots and cabin crew members.

The forward rest area, located above the foremost passenger cabin, is for pilots, while the rear rest area is for cabin crew. You can usually tell where these rest areas are because of the lack of central overhead luggage bins. The pilot rest area has two beds, while the cabin crew's space has six bunks. Pilots and crew stay safe in these rest areas because each is concealed behind a steadfast security door with a combination lock.

These rest areas are concealed behind a sliding screen. Inside is a small staircase that takes the pilot or crew member up to the rest area. In the rest areas, pilots and crew members can sleep, read, or use the WiFi to catch up on their favorite shows. Some airlines also install in-flight entertainment systems. Each bunk is separated by a privacy curtain.

Singapore Airlines' flights from Singapore to New York don't just need pilots who are talented and well-rested. It also requires a plane, which is an undeniable engineering marvel. While the standard A350-900 can fly 8,500 nautical miles (15,742 km), the A350-900ULR, built bespoke for Singapore Airlines, can fly 9,700 nautical miles (17,964 km), with a maximum flight time of 20 hours.

The table below shows specifications for the A350-900ULR according to data from Aircraft Investigation. It shows a high maximum takeoff weight and fuel capacity and a substantially lower passenger capacity than is standard.

2 x Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 producing 84,190 lbf (374.5 kN)

The A350-900ULR will soon no longer be the longest-flying operational A350 variant. That is because of Qantas' Project Sunrise flights from SYD to LHR, which will make use of the upcoming A350-1000ULR. It will be able to fly commercially for up to 22 hours, with test flights exceeding this duration. That will require a reduced seating capacity of just 238 passengers to facilitate a new 4,400-gallon (20,000-liter) rear-center fuel tank.

The Project Sunrise philosophy for a better mechanical range is much like the A350-900ULR: more fuel and a higher maximum takeoff weight to sustain it. Airbus engineers have also been hard at work to show that the fuel system can operate safely, particularly in scenarios where large quantities of fuel have to be suddenly diverted.

This aircraft also makes use of the advantages that come as standard with all A350s, such as the 25% fuel efficiency improvement compared with jets of the previous generation. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB, which exclusively powers this aircraft family, is also known for being among the world's most efficient widebody engines. The jet achieves all of this while having a 50% lower noise footprint than the A330.

As with Singapore Airlines' ultra-long-haul A350 flights, Project Sunrise trips will be crewed by four pilots, with long and short rest periods built into the schedule. All four pilots will usually make their way to the flight deck during the busiest periods, such as takeoff and landing. These systems have been standardized by ultra-long-haul carriers such as Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, and Cathay Pacific over the past 20 years.

Project Sunrise flights will cross between nine and eleven time zones, depending on the exact time of year that they will be flying. Qantas' circadian rhythm research will help pilots to recover more quickly from jet lag. Meal times, lighting, and rest cycles will need to be carefully choreographed with this need in mind.

It isn't just the flight from Singapore to New York that is long enough for pilots to need plenty of rest. After all, Singapore Airlines also has plenty of other long routes that originate at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). Away from New York, the North American destinations are Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) on the West Coast.

Singapore Airlines also flies its A350-900ULRs to five European airports. These are Manchester Airport (MAN), London Heathrow Airport (LHR), London Gatwick Airport (LGW), Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). The final destination is Cape Town International (CPT).

The shortest of these routes is the 14-hour-and-ten-minute flight to Cape Town, which is operated via Johannesburg (JNB). This route is operated daily. The most frequent route is to San Francisco, which operates twice daily. The flights to LGW are less regular but peak at twice daily. Finally, the longest routes are to the two New York airports, both o

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Airlinesthepointsguy.com12 Nov

JSX brings semi-private flights to Boston with 2 new routes

JSX is bringing its popular semi-private flights to Beantown.

The boutique air carrier plans to begin flying from Boston this winter, JSX said this week. The company's service will be based out of the nearby Laurence G. Hanscom Field (BED) in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts.

The Boston service will launch with a route to New York City on Feb. 8, followed by flights to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF) in Florida beginning on Feb. 11.

More: JSX eyes more turboprops and new mountain routes after strong passenger response

JSX will operate four daily flights between Boston and New York from Monday through Friday, with two flights on Saturday and three on Sunday. The Miami service will run once per day five times a week: Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Notably, JSX did not specify which New York airport would host the Boston flights. A spokesperson did not immediately answer TPG’s request for further details. JSX typically flies to New York’s Teterboro Airport (TEB) and Westchester County Airport (HPN), although various restrictions set by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey mean that JSX cannot publicly promote TEB as a destination.

Because of those restrictions, anyone looking to fly to or from New York has to sign up for the free Club JSX program, which offers rewards and has no minimum spending or flying requirements. Passengers can also earn United MileagePlus miles under a partnership between the two companies.

The carrier will use its Embraer E145 aircraft on both routes, which can seat up to 30 passengers in a 1-1 configuration. Fares start at $199 one-way between Boston and New York, with one-way flights between Boston and Miami starting at $599.

Club JSX: Earn rewards and fly in comfort with JSX’s new loyalty program

“Greater Boston represents an exciting new chapter for JSX, marking our first entry into Massachusetts and an important milestone in the continued expansion of our East Coast network,” JSX CEO Alex Wilcox said in a statement.

“As one of the nation's leading centers for business, innovation, and higher education, Greater Boston is a natural fit for our unique approach to flying,” he added.

JSX operates as a “hop-on charter” service, which essentially operates private charter flights that anyone can buy a seat on. It means that JSX flights operate more like private flights than commercial, using posh private Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs) instead of public airport terminals and allowing passengers to venture from curb to seat in just 20 minutes.

The flight experience itself is equally luxurious with no middle seats, lots of legroom, Starlink Wi-Fi, complimentary snacks and drinks and checked luggage that’s returned right at the side of the plane. Overall, the service pitches the idea of private jet convenience for a fraction of the cost.

The public charter service — which does not bill itself as an “airline,” due to different regulations between charter carriers and public airlines — operates out of 29 airports across the U.S. and Mexico. Although private jet passengers typically bypass TSA screening, JSX implemented a more thorough in-house screening process in 2025 to address security concerns.

Still, the process is remarkably quicker than going through the public terminal, making JSX an appealing option for those looking to skip the hassle of a regular flight.

JSX's flights from Boston are already on sale, with service scheduled to start in February.

With the entry to New England, JSX adds its 29th city, and brings its own entry to the competitive business of moving premium travelers between Boston and New York.

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