THE APEX TIMES
A nationwide FAA ground stop that halted departures earlier Friday was lifted late in the evening, Duffy told reporters, reopening U.S. airspace after delays and cancellations affected airports across the country.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide ground stop was lifted late Friday evening, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a White House briefing. Duffy told reporters that “at 8:15 tonight Eastern Time,” the government had opened the airspace, with the press conference beginning around 8:30 p.m. EST. The decision allowed aircraft departures to resume after an earlier nationwide pause that had grounded flights across the system.
Multiple outlets reported that the FAA directive caused widespread disruption for passengers and airlines, with flights delayed or canceled at airports nationwide. The Guardian reported that nearly 11,000 flights were delayed or canceled during the ground stop, while local stations described impacts including rebooking and refund questions for travelers.
Duffy’s remarks were delivered from the White House briefing room, and the reopening of airspace was presented as the government’s next operational step following the end of the ground stop. According to the report, the secretary emphasized the timing of when airspace would become available again rather than the specific operational cause of the earlier pause.
Local coverage in several states echoed national reporting about the practical effects on travelers. LEX18 said the shutdown led to delays and raised questions about how airlines were handling rebooking and refunds, while WLKY reported that the FAA had said airplane departures could resume after the nationwide ground stop.
While the timing and operational outcome were described by the Trump administration through Duffy’s comments, the supplied record does not include an FAA notice, aviation operations bulletin, or other primary FAA document confirming the directive or its technical rationale. As a result, details about the cause of the ground stop and the full scope of FAA procedures used to lift it were not independently confirmed in the materials provided here.
In the hours after the reopening, airlines and airport authorities were expected to work through the backlog created by the earlier suspension, including reshuffling schedules, coordinating gate availability, and managing passenger rebooking. The extent of remaining delays would depend on how quickly flight crews and aircraft could return to planned routes following the nationwide pause.
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