More than 16,000 flights were cancelled on Friday and Saturday in the United States, Bryan Bedford, head of the FAA, the U.S. civil aviation regulator, announced on Saturday.
General takeoff stops remain extremely rare. A comparable decision was taken in 2023 because of a computer failure and, previously, during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Trump administration attributes the outage to an incident that occurred during the replacement of aging infrastructure.
The authorities rule out a cyberattack as the cause of the incident.
Aircraft are again authorized to take off as of Friday evening. The disorganization of crews and aircraft, however, prevents an immediate return to normal.
This total, for Friday alone, includes some 9,000 commercial flights and 3,000 private flights.
The authorities further estimate that between 4,000 and 5,000 of the 41,000 flights scheduled for Saturday are expected to be cancelled.
A woman traveler tells AFP about the succession of postponements. Her flight is delayed and then cancelled on Friday, before a transfer to a Saturday morning flight.
The reopening of the skies therefore does not restore the schedule. Crews and aircraft remain scattered, and cancellations continue on Saturday.